4A Notes Coordination and Response

Coordination
Coordination: Is the way all the organs and systems of the body are
made to work efficiently together.
Coordination is brought about by the nervous system and also by the
endocrine system.
The nervous system works by sending electrical impulses along
nerves while the endocrine system depends on the release of
chemicals called hormones from endocrine glands. Hormones are
carried by the bloodstream.
Nervous Control in Humans
The nervous system consists of two parts:
 Central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the brain and
spinal cord, which are the areas of coordination
 Peripheral nervous system (PNS) made up of nerves and
neurones, which coordinate and regulate bodily functions.
Involuntary actions: not under conscious control e.g. reflex action
Voluntary actions: are done if we decide to carry them out.
Any nervous action is a result of a stimulus.

• A Stimulus is any change either internal or external which leads to a
response. This could be a noise, smell or the changes in blood sugar
level.
• A Receptor is a specialized cell which can sense the stimulus. There
are lots of different types of receptors; some can sense light, while
others can sense heat etc.
• A Coordinator is a cell or organ which 'decides' what to do. It gives
a message to the effectors to do something.
• The Effectors is an organ which responds to the stimulus. This
could be a muscle which contracts or organs like the liver which may
perform a complex task like lowering the blood sugar levels after a
meal.
• The Response is what happens when the organism reacts to the
stimulus. A stimulus can be internal or external. External stimulus’s
can be like light from the sun, this will be the stimulus, and the
receptor will be the light sensitive cells on the retina, the coordinator
is always the brain and the effecter is the muscles of the iris and the
response will be the iris narrowing down. An example of an internal
stimulus will be an increase in body temperature.
Types of Neurons
Nerve impulse: an electrical signal that passes along nerve cells
called neurones.
Sensory neurone
A sensory neurone transmits messages from the sensory neuron to the
CNS.
Motor neurone
Motor neurons transmit impulses from the CNS to the effecter
muscle.
Relay neurone
A relay neurone links the motor with the sensory neuron.
Reflex Arc
 A reflex action is an involuntary, quick action to respond to a

stimulus, in order to protect the body from danger E.g. quickly
removing your hand from hot metal surface
 They involve three neurones: a sensory neurone, relay neurone and
motor neurone.
 The gap between neurones is called a synapse.
How the reflex arc works:

 A stimulus affects a receptor (cell or organ that converts a
stimulus into an electrical impulse)
 A sensory neurone carries impulse from the receptor to the CNS
 Connector/relay neurone carries impulse slowly (because it has
no myelin sheath) across the spinal chord
 Motor neurone carries impulse from the CNS to the effector
 Effector (either a muscle or a gland) carries out the response.
 Reflex action: means of automatically and rapidly integrating
and coordinating stimuli with the responses of effectors
(muscles and glands).
Reflex action: means of automatically and rapidly integrating and
coordinating stimuli with the responses of effectors (muscles and
glands).
Synapses
Synapse: a junction between two neurones, consisting of a gap
across which impulses pass by diffusion of a neurotransmitter.
Synaptic cleft: small gap between each pair of neurones. Inside

the neurones axon, there are 100s of tiny vacuoles (vessicles each
contain a chemical called neurotransmitter).
When an impulse arrives, the vessicles move to the cell membrane

and empty their content into the synaptic cleft.
The neurotransmitter quickly diffuses across the tiny gap and

attaches to receptor molecules in the cell membrane of the relay
neurone.
This can happen because the shape of the neurotransmitter

molecules is complimentary to the shape of the receptor molecule.
Many drugs e.g. heroin act upon synapses
Antagonistic Muscle
A muscle that opposes the action of another; e.g. biceps and triceps
are antagonistic muscles or circular and radial muscles in the eye
Agonist: a muscle that contracts while another relaxes; e.g. when

bending the elbow the biceps are the agonist
Antagonist: a muscle that relaxes while another contracts; e.g.
when bending the elbow the triceps are the antagonist
Sense organ: groups of receptor cells responding to specific

stimuli: light, sound, touch, temperature and chemicals.
The Eye
The sense organ responsible for sight.
Cornea: refracts light

Iris: controls how much light enters pupil
Lens: focuses light onto retina
Retina: contains light receptors, some sensitive to light of
different colours
Optic nerve: carries impulses to the brain
Accomodation
adjusting for near and distant objects.
Rods and Cones
Hormones
A hormone is a chemical substance, produced by a gland, carried by the blood,
which alters the activity of one or more specific target organs and is then
destroyed by the liver.
Adrenaline
 A hormone secreted by the adrenal gland.
 It increases pulse rate, makes the glycogen in muscles get converted to
glucose, and released into blood, makes you breath deeper and more rapidly,
airways become wider, and makes skin become pale as blood is diverted
away.
 Increases conc. of glucose in the blood for respiration.
 Adrenaline is secreted for example: while bungee jumping or riding a
rollercoaster
Nervous and Hormonal Systems
 Hormones are used in food production, for example oestrogen is used

to boost growth rate of chickens.
 Advantage: chickens grow quickly meaning more profit.
 Disadvantages: this may cause human males to develop feminine
characteristics, and it is unnatural.
Homeostasis
 The maintenance of a constant internal environment.

 Homeostasis is the control of internal conditions within set limits
Negative Feedback
 Feedback controls the production of hormones – the hormones regulate

their own production.
 A negative feedback control is when the change in hormone level acts as a
signal to cancel out that change, so when blood hormone level is low,
hormone production is stimulated, when it is high, it is inhibited.
Glucoregulation
Blood glucose levels are monitored and controlled by the pancreas
The pancreas produces and releases different hormones depending on
the blood glucose level
Insulin is released when blood glucose levels are high – the liver stores
excess glucose as glycogen
Glucagon is released when blood glucose levels are low – the liver
converts stored glycogen into glucose and releases it into the blood
When the control of blood glucose does not work, a person is said to
have diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the death of the cells that secrete insulin
Symptom: hyperglycaemia (feel unwell, dry mouth, blurred vision and

feel thirsty) or hypoglycaemia (tired, show confusion and irrational
behaviour)
Treatment: eating little and often and avoiding large amount of
carbohydrates, injecting insulin to reduce blood glucose concentration.
Thermoregulation
Constant body temperature is maintained by:

Insulation: provided by fatty tissue retains heat. Hairs become erect to
trap warm air by contracting erector muscles and vice versa.
Vasodilatation: when it is hot, arterioles, which supply blood to the
skinsurface capillaries, dilate (become wider) to allow more blood near to
skin surface to increase heat loss (face redder)
Vasoconstriction: when it is cold, arterioles, which supply blood to the
skin-surface capillaries, constrict (become smaller) to allow less blood
near to skin surface to decrease heat loss.
Sweating: the water evaporates giving a cooling effect
Skin receptors: sense heat and sensory neurons send impulses to the
hypothalamus
Shivering: muscular activity generates heat
Thermoregulatory centre: in the hypothalamus, it controls the use of
corrective mechanisms (e.g. sweating and shivering).
Homeostatic Organs
Cells: change composition of blood as they remove nutrients and O2
and add wastes and CO2
Heart: keeps blood pressure constant to deliver oxygen and nutrients
around body
Skin: to maintain heat exchange with external environment
Kidneys: regulate water and salt levels (osmoregulation) and the
removal of wastes like urea (excretion)
Lungs: regulate gas exchange
Intestines: supply soluble nutrients and water to blood
Liver: regulates blood solutes and removes toxins
Tropic Responses
Auxin:
 Plant hormones or growth substances
 Controls tropisms
 It is produced by cells at the tip of roots and shoots of plants
Gravitropism: a response in which a plant grows towards (positive) or

away (negative) from gravity.
Auxins’ role in gravitropism:

 Tend to settle at the bottom end of the root.
 However, this does not make the cells of the tip of the root grow longer;
auxins prevent cells at bottom tip of root from growing, making cells at top
of root grow faster.
 When cells of top of the root grow faster, they push root deeper into soil
and root gets longer.
 The root grows in direction of the gravitational pull.
Phototropism: a response in which a plant grows towards (positive) or
away (negative) from the direction from which light is coming.
Auxins’ role in phototropism:

o If sun shines on right side of a plant’s shoot, auxins will accumulate
on dark opposite left side.
o Auxins accumulating makes cells on left side grow faster than cells on
right side.
o When left side of shoot starts growing faster than right side, shoot will
start to bend to right side towards sunlight.
Hormones can be used as weed killers: spraying with high

concentrations of hormone (2,4-D) upsets normal growth patterns. It
affects different species differently so might only kill one species not the
other (this is good).

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Coordination

Any nervous action is a result of a stimulus.

 A reflex action is an involuntary, quick action to respond to a

How the reflex arc works:

Synaptic cleft: small gap between each pair of neurones. Inside

When an impulse arrives, the vessicles move to the cell membrane

The neurotransmitter quickly diffuses across the tiny gap and

This can happen because the shape of the neurotransmitter

Many drugs e.g. heroin act upon synapses

Agonist: a muscle that contracts while another relaxes; e.g. when

Sense organ: groups of receptor cells responding to specific

Cornea: refracts light

 Hormones are used in food production, for example oestrogen is used

 The maintenance of a constant internal environment.

 Feedback controls the production of hormones – the hormones regulate

Symptom: hyperglycaemia (feel unwell, dry mouth, blurred vision and

Constant body temperature is maintained by:

Gravitropism: a response in which a plant grows towards (positive) or

Auxins’ role in gravitropism:

Auxins’ role in phototropism:

Hormones can be used as weed killers: spraying with high

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