Examples Of Homeostatic Imbalances
Scientific concept:
Homeostatic mechanisms use negative feedback to regulate a normal condition. Whether a positive or negative change from the normal condition occurs, the body counteracts it to restore the norm.
[ Refer to figure 1 in annex below ]
Osmoregulation is the process where the body regulates a constant blood water potential by controlling its water and solute concentrations.
[ Refer to figure 2.1 and 2.2 in annex below ]
Daily life application:
Homeostasis is crucial to an organism as it allows cells to function correctly. For example, in osmoregulation, if the water potential of blood plasma increases, more water would enter the blood cells by osmosis, causing them to swell and burst (and vice versa). Therefore, homeostatic imbalances, defined as disturbances to the body’s internal environment, often causes diseases. This can be caused by aging, malnutrition or an increased concentration of a specific substance in the blood; which may lead to diseases such as hyperglycemia, diabetes and gout. …show more content…
Patients suffer from severe pain and swelling in certain joints as the abundance of uric acid that form into crystals lodge into the joint. This can caused when the kidney is incapable of filtering out the uric acid from the blood and excreting it as urine. However, since uric acid has Iimited solubility in bodily fluids, gout is primarily caused when hyperuricemia occurs where the high levels of uric acid exceeds the rate of it solubility in the bloodstream. Hence, due to this homeostatic imbalance of purines, the remaining undissolved uric acid forms into these
Homeostatic mechanisms use negative feedback to regulate a normal condition. Whether a positive or negative change from the normal condition occurs, the body counteracts it to restore the norm.
[ Refer to figure 1 in annex below ]
Osmoregulation is the process where the body regulates a constant blood water potential by controlling its water and solute concentrations.
[ Refer to figure 2.1 and 2.2 in annex below ]
Daily life application:
Homeostasis is crucial to an organism as it allows cells to function correctly. For example, in osmoregulation, if the water potential of blood plasma increases, more water would enter the blood cells by osmosis, causing them to swell and burst (and vice versa). Therefore, homeostatic imbalances, defined as disturbances to the body’s internal environment, often causes diseases. This can be caused by aging, malnutrition or an increased concentration of a specific substance in the blood; which may lead to diseases such as hyperglycemia, diabetes and gout. …show more content…
Patients suffer from severe pain and swelling in certain joints as the abundance of uric acid that form into crystals lodge into the joint. This can caused when the kidney is incapable of filtering out the uric acid from the blood and excreting it as urine. However, since uric acid has Iimited solubility in bodily fluids, gout is primarily caused when hyperuricemia occurs where the high levels of uric acid exceeds the rate of it solubility in the bloodstream. Hence, due to this homeostatic imbalance of purines, the remaining undissolved uric acid forms into these