Major Themes on Anatomy and Physiology

Anatomy = study of form (dissection of cadavers)

Physiology= study of function

Electrons: - negative (surrounds nucleus like a cloud)

Protons: + positive charge (in nucleus of atom)

Neutron: no charge (in nucleus of atom)

•Ratio of protons to electrons determines the charge of the atom

•Atoms can give up or take electrons from other atoms in a process called ionization

•If an atom has UNEQUAL numbers of protons and electrons it is an ION

•Positively charged ion = CATION

•Negatively charged ion = ANION

Polarity:

· Opposite charges attract and like charges repel

· Unequal sharing of electrons occur when electrons are pulled towards one nucleus over another- due to one nucleus having more protons than the other

· What happens is the molecule with one part being positively charged and the other part being negatively charged which is a polar molecule (water is a polar molecule)

· Chemical Bonds

· Allow atoms to get together and form molecules and allows molecules to come together to form larger macromolecules.

· 1. Hydrogen bonds – Very weak, easily made and broken

· - no transfer or sharing of electrons

· 2. Ionic bonds – Pretty weak

· - involves transfer of electrons from one atom to another

· 3. Covalent bonds – Very strong, not easily broken

· - involves sharing of electrons between atoms

Ionic Bonds:

Attraction from a cation to an anion

Easily broken

Important for the chemistry of electrolytes

Hydrogen bonding:

o weak interaction between the slightly positive charges of a hydrogen atom and the slightly negative charges of O, N, or P

Very important in Physiology: H, O, N, P make up over 80% of your body!

Solubility:

General rule “Like dissolves Like”

o Polar molecules are soluble with other polar molecules

o Nonpolar molecules are soluble with other nonpolar molecules

o Acids are molecules that can give up H+ ions

o Bases are molecules that can accept H+ ions

o pH is a measurement of the relative concentration of H+ ions as compared to water

o • Adding an acid to water will increase H+ concentration making the solution acidic

o • Adding a base to water will decrease the H+ concentration making it basic

o • pH scale ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic) -----Water pH = 7.0

Blood pH must be around a 7.4 to be healthy

In living cells, molecules are constantly being broken down into smaller molecules (which are catabolic reactions) or built up into larger molecules (which are anabolic reactions)

Anabolic reactions often USE energy ,

catabolic reactions often RELEASE energy

· exchange reactions: One molecule exchanges an atom for another

· Many reactions in our body take a very long time so we have catalyst to speed it up (in order to keep us alive)

· •Without a catalyst, many reactions may only normally take place at high temperatures or very high or very low pH (not compatible with human life)

· •Biological catalysts are called ENZYMES

· •Enzymes are proteins that help form OR break chemical bonds (often makes reactions occur 1,000s or 1,000,000s faster!!)

· •Enzymes have a “pocket” that is called the ACTIVE SITE, which binds substrate(s)

· •An ENZYME/SUBSTRATE complex is formed when a substrate enters the active site

· •Most enzymes are VERY specific about what substrates they bind

· Sucrase, which breaks down sucrose, won’t bind lactose

· •After the enzyme performs its function the REACTION PRODUCTS are released and the enzyme is free to carry out another reaction

· Therefore, enzymes are reusable!!

· One enzyme molecule can carry out 1,000s of reactions in a short period of tim

Organic Chemistry: study of carbon containing compounds

(organic molecules contain a carbon backbone with a variety of functional groups attaches)

· Groups:

· Hydroxyl group (-OH) (sugars and alcohols)

· Methyl (fats, oils, steroids, amino acids)

· Carboxyl (amino acids, sugars, proteins)

· Amino (amino acids, proteins)

· Phosphate (ATP, nucleic acid)

Monomers/Dimers

· Many biological macromolecules exist as MONOMERS that combine to form POLYMERS

· Mono = 1, Di = 2, Tri = 3, Poly = many

Monomers: (one molecule)

~Amino acids

~Nucleotides

~Monosaccharide’s

~Fatty acids

~Glycerol

Polymers: (many molecules)

~Proteins

~DNA, RNA

~Polysaccharides (sugars)

~Lipids, fats

· Dehydration / Hydrolysis-

Dehydration synthesis: required for polymerization, involves removal of water (H2O)

 Hydrolysis: addition of H2O required to break polymers into monomers

What do Proteins do in our body? (all proteins we have in our bodies are surrounded by water)

1. Play a very important role w/ structure (collagen and keratin make up our bones, skin and hair)

2. Communication: peptide hormones carry messages from cells in one area of the body to another

3. Transport: channels and transporters on the cell surface regulate what goes in and out of a cell

4. Catalysis: enzymes speed up normally slow chemical reactions

5. Recognition and protection: proteins on our cell surface specify “self” vs. “non-self”- helps our body recognize our own cells vs. bad cells (bacteria or viruses)

6. Movement: cilia, flagella help move things within an organ. Actin and myosin allow muscles to contract and move the whole body

7. Cell Adhesion: proteins allow cells to attach to one another and attach to other structures

8. Proteins are polymers of amino acids (20 different amino acids combine in different variations to form all the proteins in your body!)

I hope some of this was helpful ! This is very basic stuff I needed to know for my anatomy and phys college course- very helpful things and often things that can be easily forgotten and can be hard to remember. Made this page to help people out !