Question

Use the Guiding Principles document provided in the main menu. Select THREE guiding principles and explain how they can be applied to the HEART. For each of them, provide specific examples of structures or physiological processes that exemplify the principle.

Guiding Principles of A&P

• Cells form the founda7on of body structure and func7on

• The body is organized into a hierarchy of increasing complexity

• Body systems are func7onally integrated

• Structure and func7on are closely related

• Rela7vely stable internal condi7ons are maintained despite changing external condi7ons

• Informa7on flow coordinates body func7ons

• Energy input is needed to sustain life

Answer 1

Guiding Principle 1. Body systems are functionally integrated.

Explanation: Humans are the most advanced group of animals which have an organ system level of organization. The different organ systems are interconnected to each other for an effective functioning and their working.

The different body parts are connected with the help of a specialized connective tissue; the blood.

Blood is the only conncective tissue which connects the different body parts together. Blood performs a number of functions like-

1. Blood helps in the transport of digested food materials
2. Blood helps in the transport of various gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide
3. It helps in the removal of harmful excretory waste products
4. Blood contains antibodies,clotting factors,and platelets which helps us to fight and resist the entry of disease causing pathogens and also helps in the clotting of the blood in case of any injuries made.
5. Helps in the transport of hormones,and or many other chemical messengers.

In order for all the body organs to work and function effectively,they need to be integrated .For this there should be a proper integration and connection which has to be made between the different body parts and organs.Heart is the main pumping organ and forms a major component of the circulatory system. Heart is made up of cardiac muscle fibres which do not get fatigued at all.

Heart is responsible for the collection of the blood from the different parts of the body via the veins and likewise it is also responsible for the pumping of the blood to the different organs via the arteries.

If heart were not present in the body, the pumping of the blood would not have occurred among the different body parts together and likewise,the integration of the different bodyt parts was not possible.

Guiding Princliple 2. Energy input is needed to sustain life.

Explanation: Energy is the prime source for the living cells to perform and function properly. Energy is obtained by the complete oxidation of the digested food materials in our body from various food sources like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.The digestion gets over in the small intestine.The surface of the small intestine bears numerous finger like projections callled Villi or microvilli in order to increase the surface absorptive area for the digested food materials. These digested materials now form the small intestine are transported to the heart via the blood. Heart pumps the pure oxygenated blood rich in the diested food materials to the different body parts via the arteries through the left atrium.Since the workload on the left atrium is the maximum, the walls of the left atrium are the thickest.

Blood carrying energy thus is transported to the various body organs wherein they utilize them and hence obtains energy for their effective functioning. That is they will perform their own metabolism. After their metabolism, when the concentration of the carbon dioxide increses in the body organs, also when they become low at energy,they again needs to be supplied with the same.Likewise impure blood gets collected from the body’s different parts and is drained back to the heart via the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava.And heart would for oxygenation of the blood will send the blood to the lungs via the pulmonary arteries through the right ventricle.

Hence,heart is a very important organ and plays a very important role in meeting up the energy needs for the sustanance of the life.

Guiding Princliple 3. Information flow coordinates the body functions.

Explanation: Whatever action we perform is due to the nervous sytem and the endocrine system. They are meant for the relaying and processing of the informations and likewise controlles the activites of all the body parts.

Informations which are passed could be in the different forms like-

1. Chemical messengers like cAMP
2. Hormones like adrenaline, thyroxine
3. Electrical impulses
4. Synapses;with the help of neurotransmitters like acetylycholine

It is to be noted that all these informations ofcourse are initiated by the neuro-endocine system,yet cannot function if heart wasnot there.

All these chemicals or the signals are ultimately transported to the distant body parts via the blood. And heart is the only blood pumping organ of our body. Heart which has 4 chambers namely right and left artrium and ventricles respectively is responsible for pumping through out our life span and hence pumps and transports the blood rich in all these informations to the various parts of the body.

If in any case,the heart stops to function, blood flow would eventually stop and likewise the exhange and the relay of the informations between the different body parts too will get impacted.Wallsof the heart in turn is made of cardiacmuslce fibre which have the property of never getting fatigued and in turn they communicate with each other via the gap junctions. Our heart directly is not under the control of even our nervous system that is it beats on its own.However indirectly autonomic nervous sytem controls and regulats the beating of our heart.

Thus even if we speak of processes like information flow corordination between the different body parts,or providing the energy inputs to sustain the life, the functional integration of the different body parts together ; we can conclude that it is majorly met by the proper and effective functioning of the heart.