The nervous system is very important in maintaining homeostasis. Explain how it is involved in the negative feedback loop

Question

The nervous system is very important in maintaining homeostasis. Explain how it is involved in the negative feedback loop (think about each component of the negative feedback loop, receptor, pathways, control centre etc.).

I need help with this question urgently please :(

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Answer 1

First, let's start with some terminology. Homeostasis is the body's ability to maintain its stable environment (e.g. keep from getting too hot, too cold, heart rate too high, too low, etc.). While a positive feedback loop often increases the amount of something happening, a negative feedback loop decreases the amount of something happening. Big picture: the nervous system uses a negative feedback loop to decrease the amount that something is happening (such as increasing body temperature) in order to bring the body back to a stable state.

The nervous system is divided into the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS). The PNS communicates information from the body (its organs, limbs, skin) to the CNS via an afferent pathway (afferent=approach the brain), which brings that information back to the brain. In the brain, the information is processed, the brain determines how the body should respond to the information, and those orders are sent out of the CNS via an efferent pathway (efferent=exits the brain). Then, the PNS communicates the information to the body and a change is elicited.

More specifically, I'll use an example. If an individual's body temperature is rising too quickly, this information is brought back to the brain through the afferent pathway; the PNS sends messages about the temperature to the CNS. As a result, the CNS sends signals (via the efferent pathway) to the PNS, with orders about how the body should react to prevent this continuous rise in temperature. The signals cause sweat glands to activate and dermal blood vessels to dilate, which causes the body to lose some heat, bringing the temperature down and the body back to homeostasis.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

I'm not sure what exact class/level this is for but I immediately think of the hypothalamic negative feedback mechanism. Negative feedback occurs when a hormone later in the pathway inhibits hormones earlier in the pathway. The hypothalamus is a major control center in our CNS. It "talks" to the anterior pituitary via the hypophyseal portal system that directly connects the two structures so the message (hormones) is delivered immediately as opposed to being released into systemic circulation. These hormones then bind to receptors in the anterior pituitary, stimulating the release of other hormones. SO for example, the hypothalamus secretes the hormone CRF (corticotropic releasing factor) which then "tells" the anterior pituitary to release ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) which then "tells" the adrenal cortex to release cortisol. Too much of things can be bad so cortisol interacts with receptors on the hypothalamus and when concentration is too high - the hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary can detect this which will inhibit them from producing CRF and ACTH respectively. Thus, Cortisol is influencing the production of CRF and ACTH (negative feedback).

I hope this was in any way helpful!

Answer 3

Your nervous system plays 2 important roles with maintaining homeostasis. The peripheral nervous system is where the body receives the stimulus that the external environment is changing and the body needs to respond accordingly. The central nervous system (aka the control system) will receive that information along the afferent pathway and determine how to respond to this external stimulus. Once the central nervous system knows how it will respond, it then sends that information back out along the peripheral nervous system via the efferent pathway to initiate a change in the body so that homeostasis is maintained.