Systems Notes

How Do Organs Work Together to Form Organ Systems?

1. Systems form when several organs link their functions to achieve a task that no single organ could complete.
2. Just as tissues combine to create an organ, organs combine to create a functional pathway, where each step depends on the previous one.
3. The digestive and respiratory systems are clear examples of how tissue-level structures scale up into system-level processes.

Why Must Organ Systems Be Structured in a Specific Order?

1. As we just covered, systems rely on ordered structures, not random organ placement.
2. For example, in the digestive system:
   1. The mouth breaks food down
   2. The stomach churns and dissolves food further.
   3. The small intestine absorbs nutrients.
   4. The large intestine reabsorbs water.

Note

• Each organ's internal tissue structure supports its role:
  • The stomach has thick muscle tissue to churn food.
  • The small intestine has villi to maximise absorption.

How Do Systems Coordinate Without Conscious Control?

1. The respiratory system depends on automatic coordination between organs and tissues.

1. Air passes from trachea → bronchi → lungs → alveoli, a structure built from tissues designed for gas exchange:
   1. Epithelial tissue forms thin alveolar walls.
   2. Capillary networks allow oxygen to move into blood.
   3. Muscle tissue in the diaphragm controls breathing rate.

1. None of this requires thinking.
2. The nervous system monitors carbon dioxide levels and adjusts breathing automatically.

How Do Different Systems Work Together?

1. No system works in isolation.
2. They're all interdependent, relying on input or support from others:
   1. The respiratory and circulatory systems depend on each other to supply oxygen.
   2. The digestive system depends on the circulatory system to transport nutrients.
   3. The muscular system depends on the nervous system to activate movement.
3. To do this, organs communicate using electrical signals (nerves) and chemical signals (hormones).