Homeostasis in Human Body: Role of Negative Feedback Mechanisms

This essay provides an overview of homeostasis, defining it as the property of organisms, tissues, and cells that allows the regulation and maintenance of stability for proper bodily function. It uses the maintenance of blood pressure as an example, highlighting the roles of cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and hormonal systems. The essay focuses on the negative feedback system as the primary mechanism for maintaining homeostatic balance, using examples such as carbon dioxide regulation by the lungs and temperature regulation through vasodilation and sweat glands. It explains how sensors detect changes and activate effectors to counteract stimuli and maintain a stable internal environment, referencing the roles of the hypothalamus and skin in temperature control.

Running head: HOMEOSTASIS
Homeostasis
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1HOMEOSTASIS
Introduction- homeostasis can be described as the property of the organisms, tissues and
the cells that allows the regulation and maintenance of the constancy and the stability for proper
functioning of the body. An example of homeostasis is the maintenance of the blood pressure
inside the human body through the different adjustments in the cardiovascular systems,
neuromuscular systems and the hormonal systems (Modell et al., 2015).
Homeostatic feedback system- the negative feedback system is the most common type of
the regulation system and it maintains the homeostatic balance of the human body. This system
acts to alter the direction of the change in temperature so as to maintain the things constant. For
example, when carbon dioxide levels increases in air, the lungs are signalled by brain to exhale
more amount of carbon dioxide. This causes an increase in the exhalation rate of carbon dioxide
and the levels of carbon dioxide is balanced and lungs function in a normal way. Similarly, when
the body temperature increases, then the receptors automatically present on the hypothalamus
and skin are able to sense the change in temperature and it triggers the brain to make some
changes. The changes include the dilation of the blood vessels that are present near the skin so
that body temperature can be reduced which is also called thermoregulation and the it also falls
under the negative feedback loop. Maintenance of the homeostasis involves a negative feedback
loop and the loop itself acts to oppose the stimulus (Fossion, Rivera & Estanol, 2018). If the high
temperatures are detected by the sensors, the nerve cells that are present on the nerve cell ending
present in the brain and the skin. The same is dependent on the temperature control portion of the
brain and after that the set of information are processed so that the effectors can be activated. The
activators here are the sweat glands and the task of the sweat glands is to resist the stimulus by
bringing the body to the regular temperature. Thus, with the increment of body temperature, the
blood vessels also increases in diameters that results into significant amount of heat releasing to

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the surrounded environment. Along with that, the sweat glands secrete the fluid to use the
thermal effect of fluid evaporation from the outer surface body reduce the body temperature. The
regular temperature of body is maintained by losing heat to the environment. While on the other
hand when the body temperature falls the opposite happens (Kotas & Medzhitov, 2015).
Figure 1: Homeostatic feedback system [source: Modell et al., 2015]

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Reference
Fossion, R., Rivera, A. L., & Estanol, B. (2018). A physicist’s view of homeostasis: how time
series of continuous monitoring reflect the function of physiological variables in
regulatory mechanisms. Physiological measurement, 39(8), 084007. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6579/aad8db
Kotas, M. E., & Medzhitov, R. (2015). Homeostasis, inflammation, and disease susceptibility.
Cell, 160(5), 816-827. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.02.010
Modell, H., Cliff, W., Michael, J., McFarland, J., Wenderoth, M. P., & Wright, A. (2015). A
physiologist's view of homeostasis. Advances in physiology education, 39(4), 259-266.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1152%2Fadvan.00107.2015

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