The nervous system is a complex network that allows an organism to communicate with its environment. The network includes sensory components, which detect changes in environmental stimuli, and motor components, which generate movement, contraction of skeletal and smooth muscle, and…
The motor (efferent) nervous system has two components: the somatic and the autonomic. These two systems differ in a number of ways but are chiefly distinguished by the types of effector organs they innervate and the types of functions they…
Understanding the functions of the organ systems requires profound knowledge of basic cellular mechanisms. Although each organ system differs in its overall function, all are undergirded by a common set of physiologic principles. The following basic principles of physiology are…