THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Physiology
Christian Stricker
Associate Professor for Systems Physiology
ANUMS/JCSMR - ANU
Christian.Stricker@anu.edu.au
http://stricker.jcsmr.anu.edu.au/Physiology.pptx
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Aims
At the end of this lecture students should be able to
• define what the discipline physiology encompasses,
• describe how physiology approaches medical sciences,
• identify the staff on campus teaching physiology,
• choose appropriate learning resources; and
• appreciate some teaching expectations.
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Contents
• My perception of physiology
• Notes on a PBL-based medical course
• Books for good sourcing of materials
• Expectations and learning
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What Is Physiology?
• “The science of the living/growing ‘nature’”.
• The Japanese language uses two signs to express
physiology: logic and life; i.e. the logic of life.
• As a discipline: “The science, which deals with the
functions of the living organism and its parts, and of the
physical and chemical processes involved.”
• As a descriptor: “The basic processes underlying the
functioning of a species or class of organism, or any of
its parts or processes.”
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What Is Physiology?
• As a discipline, physiology encompasses (bottom - up)
– Molecules
– Genes
– Cells
– Organs
– Organisms (systems)
• Physiology is unique among the basic medical sciences in that it is both
broad in its scope (multiple systems) and integrative in its outlook.
• Sub-disciplines
– Human physiology  animal physiology
– Cell physiology  organ physiology
– Molecular physiology  systems physiology
– Physiological genomics (also functional genomics): link between genes and
organism (knock-out, transgenic animals, etc.).
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Physiology and Homeostasis
Claude Bernard
(1813 - 1870)
Walter Cannon
(1871-1945)
• At the centre of physiology is the term “homeostasis”.
• 1865: Claude Bernard - ”Constancy of the internal milieu
was the essential condition to a free life.”
• 1932: Walter Cannon coined “homeostasis” - two Greek
words meaning to “remain unchanged”.
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The Father of Modern Physiology
Kymograph, 1847
First documentation of ventricular fibrillation (1849)
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig
(1816-1895)
Physiological Institute, Leipzig (~1900); designed by Ludwig, destroyed in WWII
• Brought chemists, physicists, medical
researchers and engineers together.
• Integrative nature of discipline.
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Mother of Other Disciplines
Due to specialisation, the following MS disciplines
became independent:
• Biochemistry (~ 1900)
• Pharmacology (~ 1900)
• Biophysics (~ 1925)
• Neuroscience (~ End of WW II)
• Computational biology (~ 1970)
• Discipline boundaries often not clearly delineated.
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Physiology and Medicine
• For centuries the two have been intertwined:
– Physiology describes the normal / healthy state.
– Medicine is the study of “physiology gone awry”: physiology is
the reference point for an understanding of which components
may be malfunctioning in a patient.
• The “Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine”:
“The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which
shall be apportioned as follows: … one part to the person who
shall have made the most important discovery within the domain
of physiology or medicine ...”
(Excerpt from the will of Alfred Nobel)
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Physiology and Medicine
• Physiology evolved over the centuries from a qualitative
to a quantitative basic medical science.
– Quantitative aspects serve to make predictions.
• Technology transfer between the two disciplines.
– Diagnostic testing (for example)
• ECG / EMG / EEG
• Lung function testing
• Exercise testing
• Physiologists were and are still recruited to the discipline
from medicine, (bio-)chemistry, (bio-)physics,
mathematics or engineering.
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Medical Physiology
• Global view of the human body; requires an
integrated understanding of events/mechanisms at
the level of molecules, genes, cells and organs.
• Sophisticated feedback control mechanisms are
responsible for maintaining homeostatic conditions.
– Negative/(positive)-feedback mechanisms
– Competition
– Hierarchy of control systems
– Redundancy
– Adaptability
• Scientific basis of medical practice.
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Why Learn Physiology?
• To obtain and understand
– concepts,
– physical laws/rules, and
– relationships
for making fast and informed
clinical decisions.
• Mostly, qualitative understanding
sufficient.
• In special instances (ICU, etc.)
quantitative aspects important.
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Staging of Teaching
• Block 1
– From molecules to an introduction to systems (bottom-up)
– General physiology: common principles that apply to all organ systems
• Physical and chemical principles as these apply to physiology
• Ionic distributions, diffusion, water volumes
• Equilibria: osmotic, ionic, electrical (membrane potential, AP)
• Signalling cascades
• Muscle: contraction, relaxation, work, performance
• Pressures, flow, perfusion and fluid filtration
• Gasses: concentration, partial pressures and volumes
• Block 2ff
– Organ specific physiology: quite variable due to different research cultures.
– Can be a bit bewildering…
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Teaching Considerations
• Integrative course has special features:
– Systematic lectures in foundation block, later centred around cases rather
than learning themes (initially systematic, later not systematic).
– Teaching is done by various scientists and specialist clinicians.
Jason Potas
Kevin Saliba
“me”
– Limited discipline teaching.
– Lectures do NOT cover content COMPLETELY: ~2 h of study for each
lecture and practical!
• Good sourcing of learning materials is essential.
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“Me”
• Grew up in eastern part of Switzerland (“dialect”).
• Studied medicine in Zürich/Bern.
– Started to like physiology early in my studies.
• Came to Oz in 1991 for a postdoc at JCSMR.
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Books Covering Physiology
• Sourcing of books is dependent on state of learning and knowledge of
the student/graduate.
• Books target different learning levels (hierarchy).
– Learning books: emphasis on important concepts.
– Repetition books: summaries, reviews (before exams…).
– Textbooks: deepen concepts and detailed factual knowledge (hardly
available today…): library.
– Handbooks: illustrate state of scientific discovery (written by specialists of
learned societies): library.
– Review journals (typically of physiological societies): concentrating on a
single specialist theme/topic: library.
– Specialist journals (latest research): library.
• Since learning is very individual, you will have to find out, which book(s)
suit(s) your learning style.
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Learning Books
• Pros: Concise, concept orientated,
simple illustrations, cheap.
• Pros: Concise, clinically oriented, with
CD (I-TRACK).
• Cons: lots of little proof reading
mistakes (non fatal).
• Cons: little molecular perspective, not
quantitative (can be an advantage),
Info-track CD questionable, … CS 2016
More Learning Books
• Pros: Concise, short, simple
illustrations, cheap.
• Pros: concise, mature, short; cheap;
long history – regularly updated.
• Cons: on occasion a bit too short.
• Cons: Sometimes a bit too short.
• Available in PBL rooms.
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Others and Caveats
• There are others … – also excellent (Rhoades & Bell, Medical
Physiology; Raff & Levitzky, Medical Physiology – A Systems
Approach; Organ specific books… several).
• Older editions are fine provided it is not > 10 - 20 years old.
• Combined physiology – anatomy books are not adequate
(target nursing courses…).
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Learning - Textbook
• Pros: Up-to-date, sizable book, complete; will last even for experienced
students, graduates.
• Cons: Use of too much colour, integration of text and figures on
occasion a bit confusing.
• More reference rather than learning book (available in PBL rooms).CS 2016
Repetition Book (before the exam…)
• Pros: Short, concise, focussed, tight text, excellent illustrations.
• Cons: a few spelling mistakes, incomplete (but no problem for
this course).
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Exam Preparation Books
• MCQ explained
• Appropriate level
• Lots of MCQs
• Well explained
• Real exam questions
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Handbooks of Physiology
• Large series of in-depth texts
published by American
Physiological Society (typically
every 10 - 20 years…).
• On occasion not be quite up-todate (“out-of-date” concept?).
• If you need more information than
your “book” provides, this is the
first source.
• You will find these in the library…
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My Expectations
• Engagement:
– Best to work materials up in books right away:
helps to follow and understand progression.
– Pre-class reading is very effective.
• Be prepared to try and view concepts from
another angle.
• Link physiology with clinical skills!
• Don’t get intimidated by quantitative aspects!
– I will try to limit content to a few and simple laws.
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Effective Learning
Science, 317 (2008): 966-968
• “Going-over” is useless – time poorly spent…
• The more questions you answer, the better …
– Work-up materials in question form – best method.
– Quality of questions is likely secondary: provoking recall is important.
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That’s it folks…
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