Physiology

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Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, an important early achievement in the study of physiology.
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, an important early achievement in the study of physiology.

Physiology (from Greek: φυσις, physis, “nature, origin”; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms.

Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells may also apply to human cells.

The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human animal species. Plant physiology also borrows techniques from both fields. Its scope of subjects is at least as diverse as the tree of life itself. Due to this diversity of subjects, research in animal physiology tends to concentrate on understanding how physiological traits changed throughout the evolutionary history of animals. Other major branches of scientific study that have grown out of physiology research include biochemistry, biophysics, paleobiology, biomechanics, and pharmacology.

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[edit] History

Physiology can trace its roots back more than two millennia to classical antiquity, with the critical thinking of Aristotle and his emphasis on the relationship between structure and function. Claudius Galenus (A.D. 126-circa 199), known as Galen, was the first to use systematic and carefully designed experiments to probe the function of the body.

During the Middle Ages the ancient Greek medical traditions were further developed by physicians in the Muslim world, most notably Avicenna, who introduced experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology, and Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288), who was the first to correctly describe the anatomy of the heart, the coronary circulation, the structure of the lungs, and the pulmonary circulation. He was also the first to describe the relationship between the lungs and the aeration of the blood.

Following from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance brought an increase of physiological research in the Western world that triggered the modern study of anatomy and physiology. Anatomist William Harvey described blood circulation in the 17th century,[1] demonstrating the fruitful combination of close observations and careful experiments to learn about the functions of the body, which was fundamental to the development of experimental physiology. Herman Boerhaave is sometimes referred to as a father of physiology due to his exemplary teaching in Leiden and textbook 'Institutiones medicae'(1708).

In the 19th century, physiological knowledge began to accumulate at a rapid rate, most notably with Matthias Schleidan and Theodor Schwann's "Cell theory" which radically stated in 1838 that organisms are made up of units called cells, along with Claude Bernard's (1813-1878) many discoveries that ultimately led to his concept of, interieur (internal environment) which would later be taken up and championed as 'Homeostasis' by American physiologist Walter Cannon (1871-1945).

[edit] Areas of physiology

[edit] Human and animal

Main article: Human physiology

Human physiology is the largest subfield of physiology, although model organisms are often used even in studies designed to increase knowledge of human physiology.

[edit] Plant

Plant physiology has differing subdivisions. For example, since plants do not have muscles and nerves, neither myophysiology nor neurophysiology applies.

[edit] Microorganisms

In microorganism physiology, some areas of both plant and animal physiology are relvant, in addition to areas of physiology specific to microorganisms, below:

  • Microbial physiology, a subfield of microbiology, is the study of how microorganisms function
  • Similarly, bacteria physiology, a subfield of bacteriology, is the study of how bacteria function
  • Microbe-host interactions deals with the physiology of microorganisms and higher organisms in intimate contact, sometimes in symbiotic or transient relationships.
  • Likewise, bacteria–host interactions deal with the physiology of bacteria and higher organisms, as in bacteria in the human body[2]
  • Biofilm physiology is the study of how microorganisms function together in a specialized community, or biofilm

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Zimmer, Carl. 2004. Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain - and How It Changed the World. New York: Free Press.
  2. ^ The Influence of Cooperative Bacteria on Animal Host Biology cited on 2007-04-14


[edit] External links

Look up physiology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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