- Physiology
Physiology (from Greek _gr. φύσις, "physis", "nature, origin"; and _gr. -λογία, "-logia") is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of
living organisms . Physiology has traditionally been divided betweenplant physiology and animal physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particularorganism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology ofyeast cells may also apply tohuman cells.The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of
human physiology to non-human animalspecies . Plant physiology also borrows techniques from both fields.Its scope of subjects is at least as diverse as thetree 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 includebiochemistry ,biophysics ,paleobiology ,biomechanics , andpharmacology .History
Physiology can trace its roots back more than two millennia to
classical antiquity , to the Greek and Indian medical traditions. The critical thinking ofAristotle and his emphasis on the relationship between structure and function marked the beginning of physiology in Greece, while Claudius Galenus (c. 126-199), known asGalen , was the first to use experiments to probe the function of the body. The ancient Indian books ofAyurveda , the "Sushruta Samhita " and "Charaka Samhita ", also had descriptions on human anatomy and physiology.During the
Middle Ages , the ancient Greek and Indian medical traditions were further developed by Muslim physicians, most notablyAvicenna (980-1037), who introducedexperimentation andquantification into the study of physiology in "The Canon of Medicine ". Many of the ancient physiological doctrines were eventually discredited byIbn al-Nafis (1213-1288), who was the first physician to correctly describe theanatomy of theheart , thecoronary circulation , the structure of thelungs , and thepulmonary circulation , for which he is considered the father of circulatory physiology. [Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", "Heart Views" 5 (2), p. 74-85 [80] .] He was also the first to describe the relationship between the lungs and theaeration of theblood , the cause of pulsation, [Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288)", pp. 224-229, "Electronic Theses and Dissertations",University of Notre Dame . [http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615] ] and an early concept ofcapillary circulation.Dr. Paul Ghalioungui (1982), "The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation", "Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis", Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf. [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drpaul.html The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation] , "Encyclopedia of Islamic World")]Following from the Middle Ages, the
Renaissance brought an increase of physiological research in theWestern world that triggered the modern study of anatomy and physiology.Anatomist William Harvey described thecirculatory system in the 17th century, [Zimmer, Carl. 2004. "Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain - and How It Changed the World." New York: Free Press.] 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 andTheodor Schwann 'sCell theory which radically stated in 1838 that organisms are made up of units called cells, along withClaude Bernard 's (1813-1878) many discoveries that ultimately led to his concept of, interieur (internal environment) which would later be taken up and championed asHomeostasis by American physiologistWalter Cannon (1871-1945).In the 20th century, biologists also became interested in how organisms other than human beings function, eventually spawning the fields of
comparative physiology andecophysiology [Feder, M. E., A. F. Bennett, W. W. Burggren, and R. B. Huey, eds. 1987. "New directions in ecological physiology." Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.] Major figures in these fields includeKnut Schmidt-Nielsen andGeorge Bartholomew . Most recently,evolutionary physiology has become a distinct subdiscipline [ [http://www.biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/GarlCa94.pdf Garland, T., Jr., and P. A. Carter. 1994. Evolutionary physiology. "Annual Review of Physiology" 56:579-621.] ] .ee also
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Comparative physiology
*Ecophysiology
*Evolutionary physiology
*Physiome
*The Physiological Society
*Somatopsychic References
External links
* [http://www.intellecttoday.com Scientific Discussion - Physiology]
* [http://www.physiology.info Physiology.info]
* [http://www.physoc.org The Physiological Society]
* [http://www.biol.unt.edu/developmentalphysiology/ Developmental physiology]
* [http://www.the-aps.org/ The American Physiological Society]
* [http://www.biophysics.org/ The Biophysical Society]
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