Topic Summaries

Homeostasis

GCSE > Biology > WJEC > GCSE Biology Topic Summaries > The nervous system and homeostasis > Homeostasis
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Plant disease and monoclonal antibodies

The brain and the eye

Reproductive hormones and plant hormones

Genetic engineering and modification

Resource cycles and environmental change

Science skills: Measuring results

  • Homeostasis is the regulation of the internal conditions of a cell or organism to maintain optimum conditions for enzyme activity and all cellular functions in response to internal and external changes.
  • In humans, homeostasis includes control of:
    • Blood glucose concentration (too low and you would not release enough energy in respiration, too high and you go into a coma).
    • Body temperature (too low and your enzymes will have a low kinetic energy and reactions would take place too slowly, too high and enzymes would denature and be unable to catalyse reactions).
    • Water levels (too low and your cells will shrink, too high and your cells will burst).
  • Automatic control systems, involving nervous or chemical responses, are used to maintain homeostasis. Responses involving the nervous system happen very quickly using electrical impulses, whereas responses involving the hormonal system are slower as the hormones travel in the blood.
  • Control systems include receptor cells, which detect the stimulus (the change in the environment), coordination centres, which receive and process information from receptors (such as the brain, spinal cord, and pancreas), and effectors, which bring about responses that restore optimum levels (muscles or glands)

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