Activity 3. Basic Life Processes
1. Metabolism- Covers all the essential chemical reactions that occurs in our body. It has two different types: Catabolism and Anabolism. The process of metabolism happens when we consume and digest food (Catabolism), its intact molecules are broken down into simpler ones to be used as energy. On the other hand, when we get wounded the body responds to repair that part of the body by adding tissues and proteins (Anabolism).
2. Responsiveness- Covers the awareness and receptivity of the body to react to internal or external stimuli. Any stimulus that presents itself, the body will set of procedures. Examples of responsiveness to internal stimuli is pH level which the body reacts to through the two organ systems: Respiratory and Urinary systems to adjust the acid-base balance.
3. Movement- Covers all the motion in the body that includes: joints, cells, organs, muscles, and skeletal frame. Examples of these motions are as follows: popping of fingers, movement of red blood cells due to circulation, involuntary pumping of the heart.
4. Growth- The enlargement in mass and body size due to the existing individual cells accumulating a size increase, or the addition in the number of cells, or both. Example of this would be Muscle hypertrophy that is caused by the increase in the activity of the satellite cells. This results into reduced body fat and increase in muscle size.
5. Differentiation- All about stem cells and how they play a vital role in the process of differentiation. All stem cells vary from one another there are the totipotent (able to give rise to all embryonic and adult lineages), pluripotent (all cell types in an adult), multipotent (multiple cells within a lineage), oligopotent (self-renew), and unipotent (produces one type of cell). From this the different stem cell type begins to develop gradually into cells, tissues, organs, organ system, and fully completing an organism. A pluripotent stem cells can specialize into any kind of cell.
6. Reproduction- The development of new cells for replacement and repair of existing cells or for growth. In general definition reproduction is the formation of an organism. Example of a process of reproduction is through spermatogenesis; the testicle constantly produce new sperm and males cannot run out of it.
References:
Carnac G, Ricaud S, Vernus B, Bonnieu A. Myostatin: biology and clinical relevance. Mini Rev Med Chem. 2006 Jul;6(7):765-70. Review. Citation on PubMed
Tabansky I, Stern JNH. Basics of Stem Cell Biology as Applied to the Brain. 2016 Jul 27. In: Pfaff D, Christen Y, editors. Stem Cells in Neuroendocrinology [Internet]. Cham (CH): Springer; 2016. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK435799/ doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-41603-8_2