Download Name - Spring Branch ISD

Name _______________________________
INFO ABOUT EACH OF THE ORGAN SYSTEMS
IN THE HUMAN BODY
This packet contains all the information about the organ systems of
the human body that you need to know. We will be doing this a little
at a time and will take checkpoint grades throughout the 6-weeks for
each organ system. These are the following organ systems we will
be studying:
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Skeletal
Muscular
Cardiovascular
These two together make up the
Respiratory
Cardiopulmonary system.
Lymphatic or Immune
Endocrine
Digestive
Excretory
Nervous
Integumentary
Reproductive
Page 1 of 16
Skeletal System
The purpose of the skeleton is:
1. It ______________ vital organs such as the brain, heart, and lungs.
2. It gives us the ______________ that we have. Without our skeleton we would just be a
blob of blood and tissue on the ____________.
3. It allows us to _____________. Because our muscles are attached to our bones, when
our muscles move, they move the bones, and we move.
4. It produces _________ and __________ blood cells. Blood cells are formed in bone
marrow, which is found in the center of the “long bones” of the body.
5. It stores _____________ and _______________ until we need them.
The skeletal system is composed of:
 _________________. They join together to form joints. When you were born your
skeleton had around 300 bones. By the time you become an adult, you will only have
around 206 bones because some of them fuse together and others are lost completely.
Also, more than ½ of your bones are found in your hands and feet!
 _________________. These are at the end of each bone. It is tough and smooth and
keeps your bones from scratching and bumping against each other.
 _________________. They are strong, stretchy bands of tissue that connect bones to
bones. They are supposed to prevent the bones from being dislocated or from
extending beyond their proper range.
 _________________. They are strong, stretchy bands of tissue that connect bones to
muscles.
Where two or more bones meet, there is a ___________. There are two kinds of joints:
moveable and immoveable. There are four major types of moveable joints: hinge, gliding,
ball and socket, and pivot.
 __________________ - allows freedom of movement in several directions
 __________________ - allows movement in one plane (front to back, side to side)
 __________________ - allows more movement than a hinge joint, but less than a ball and
socket joint
 __________________ - allows rotational movement
 __________________ - allows no movement at all
Page 2 of 16
Muscular System
The purpose of the muscular system is for ___________________ and our body’s
ability to generate _________.
Over __________ muscles in your body make up approximately ____________
percent of your mass and account for about _____________ of your weight.
There are some muscles you can control, called ___________________ muscles.
_____________ muscles are responsible for activities such as digestion and blood
flow, things that are not under your control.
Your body has three types of muscles:
 ________________ muscles are attached to the bones of your skeleton. You
have conscious control of them, so they are _________________ muscles.
 ________________ muscles are inside many internal organs of the body
(stomach, intestines, walls of blood vessels, and uterus) and control many
types of movements inside your body. For example the movement of food
through the __________ ________, and the decrease in size of the __________
of our eyes in bright lights.
 ________________ muscles are only found in the heart. You do not have
conscious control of them, so they are _____________________ muscles.
Skeletal muscles generate force and produce movement only by pulling, or
____________________. Individual muscles can only pull; they can’t __________.
Because muscle cells can only contract, not extend, skeletal muscles must work
in __________. The muscles of the upper arm are a good example of this dual
action: flexor is a muscle that bends a joint and extensor is a muscle that
_______________ a joint. For example, when the ____________ muscle contracts,
it bends, or flexes, the elbow joint. Then, when the ___________ muscle
contracts, it opens the elbow joint.
Page 3 of 16
Cardiovascular System (or circulatory system)
The purpose of the cardiovascular system is to carry needed substances,
_____________, to cells and carries waste products, _____________ ____________,
away from cells.
The cardiovascular system consists of the ___________, ______________, and
_____________ ____________. The heart is a muscular __________ that pumps
blood throughout the body. Each time the heart _________, it pushes blood
through the blood vessels.
Blood is made up of four components:
 ______________ is the liquid part of blood. It is mostly water, but ten
percent is made of dissolved materials like food molecules, ____________,
minerals, ___________ products, and plasma proteins.
 Red blood cells carry ____________ from the lungs to the body cells.
 ________ blood cells are made in the bone marrow. Some white blood cells
alert the body when disease-causing organisms ___________. Others
produce _____________ that fight the invaders. Some surround and
_________ the disease-causing organism.
 Platelets are cell fragments that help form blood _________. They collect
and stick to any site where a blood vessel is __________.
Page 4 of 16
Respiratory System
The purpose of the respiratory system is to move _______________ from the
outside environment into the body. It also removes _____________ _____________
and _____________ from the body.
Air enters the body through the _______ or _________. The inside of the nose is
coated with ___________. Mucus cleans, warms, and moistens the air you
breathe. Air moves from the nose downward into the top of the throat, called
the ____________. The trachea, or ______________, leads to the ___________. The
trachea branches into the left and right bronchi (singular bronchus). The main
organs of the _________________ system are the lungs. Inside the lungs the
bronchi branch into smaller tubes called __________________. They continue to
branch into smaller and smaller tubes (like the branches of a tree from the
trunk to smaller and smaller branches). At the end of the smallest tubes are
bunches of _____________, which are tiny sacs that look like a bunch of grapes.
After air enters the alveoli, _____________ passes through the cell membrane
into the ___________. Carbon dioxide and water pass from the blood into the
__________. The large dome-shaped muscle below the lungs that contracts
when you inhale and relaxes when you _____________ is called the
__________________. The _______________, or voice box, is located at the top of
the trachea. Your vocal cords are two folds of connective tissue that stretch
across the opening of the larynx. The vocal cords _____________ when air
passes over them. This produces the ____________ of your voice.
Page 5 of 16
Cardiopulmonary System: this is a combination of the
cardiovascular and respiratory systems (heart and lungs)
Blood from the _________ travels to the heart through the superior vena cava
(from the upper part of the body) and the inferior vena cava (from the lower
part of the body), then goes into the right atrium. From there it goes to the
right ventricle. Then, the __________ goes to the lungs where it becomes
oxygenated. Now the blood has _____________ in it. From the lungs the blood
travels to the left atrium, then into the left ventricle. Then, the blood goes
through the aorta to the rest of the body. The cycle continues.
EXTRA - Draw a diagram below that shows how the blood flows through the
heart and lungs, labeling each of these parts: heart, lung, left atrium, right
atrium, left ventricle, right ventricle, superior vena cava, inferior vena cava,
and aorta. Color the section red that contains oxygen in the blood and the part
that contains carbon dioxide blue.
Page 6 of 16
Lymphatic System (or immune system)
The lymphatic system does three main jobs:
 It drains __________ back into the bloodstream. As the blood circulates, fluid leaks out
into the body tissues. This fluid is important because it carries food to the ________ and
waste products back to the _____________. The leaked fluid (now called ___________)
drains into the lymph vessels. It is carried through the lymph vessels to the base of the
neck where it is emptied back into the bloodstream.
 It filters ___________. This is the job of the spleen. It filters the lymph to take out all
the old worn out ______ blood cells. These are destroyed and replaced by new red
blood cells that have been made in the ________ ____________.
 It fights _______________. __________ lymph nodes indicate a person has an infection.
The lymphatic system helps to make special white blood cells that produce antibodies.
There are other blood cells inside the lymph nodes which kill any foreign particles.
The lymphatic system is a system of thin _________ that run throughout the body. The
lymphatic system is like the blood circulation - the tubes branch through all parts of the
body like the arteries and veins that carry blood. Except that the lymphatic system carries a
colorless liquid called __________ in __________ ____________. When fluid moves out of the
____________________ system, into the surrounding tissues, then drains into the lymphatic
system, we call the fluid lymph. Along the lymph vessels are small bean-shaped glands
called __________ ___________. There are lymph nodes in your ____________, in your groin (at
the top of your legs), in your _________, in your abdomen, pelvis, and chest.
There are other organs that are a part of the lymphatic system:
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The ___________ is under your ribs on the left side of your body. It works as a filter of
lymph fluid.
The ___________ is a small gland under your sternum. It helps to produce white blood
cells. It is usually most active in teenagers and shrinks in adulthood.
The ___________ are two glands in the back of your throat and the _____________ are at
the back of your nose. They both help protect the body from bacteria and viruses.
Page 7 of 16
Endocrine System
The endocrine system _____________ many of the body’s daily activities as well
as long-term ______________, such as development. The endocrine system is
made up of ____________. Endocrine glands are organs that _____________ and
_______________ chemical products directly into the bloodstream. The blood
then carries those chemicals throughout the __________ _________. These
chemicals are called ______________ and they turn on, turn off, _________ ______,
or __________ ________ the activities of different organs and tissues.
The nervous system and the endocrine system work together. The
hypothalamus, a tiny part of the ___________, is the link between the two
systems. The pituitary gland ___________________ with the hypothalamus to
control many body activities. Nerve impulses or hormone signals from the
hypothalamus cause the pituitary gland to ____________ _____________. Some
hormones from the pituitary gland turn on other endocrine glands. Other
pituitary hormones control the body activities _____________. Pituitary
hormones regulate ____________ from infancy to adulthood. Many hormones are
controlled by a negative _____________ system. When the amount of a particular
hormone in the blood reaches a certain ____________, it signals the endocrine
system to _________ releasing that hormone. Negative feedback is an important
way that the body maintains ___________________. An example of negative
feedback: this is similar to how your air conditioner works – when the
temperature in the house reaches a set temperature (it’s cold enough), the air
conditioner turns off.
Draw a diagram below that shows how the endocrine system works.
Page 8 of 16
Digestive System
The digestive system has three main functions:
 it breaks down _________ into molecules the body can use
 the molecules are ________________ into the __________ and carried throughout the body
 ____________ are eliminated from the body
There are two kinds of digestion – mechanical and chemical. In mechanical digestion, foods
are __________________ broken down into smaller pieces. In chemical digestion,
_________________ produced by the body break down foods into their smaller chemical
building blocks. Both mechanical and chemical digestion begins in the ___________. Your
___________ carry out the first stage of mechanical digestion as they break foods into smaller
pieces. Then, ___________ (which contain enzymes that digest starch) mixes with the pieces
of food and moistens them. The chemical digestion is done by the enzymes. Food moves
into the esophagus, which is lined with __________, making the food easier to swallow.
Involuntary waves of muscle contractions called _______________ move food down the
esophagus towards the stomach. Most _____________ digestion occurs in the stomach as
muscle contractions churn the food. _______________ digestion is carried out in the stomach
by digestive juices that contain _______________ and ____________________ acid. When the
food has changed into a thick __________, it moves, a little at a time, into the ___________
intestine. Almost all chemical digestion and _____________ of nutrients takes place in the
small intestine. The ________ produces bile; the bile travels to the gall bladder (where it is
stored), then is released into the small intestine where it breaks down fat. The
______________ produces enzymes that flow into the small intestine; these enzymes help
break down ____________, ______________, and ___________. After chemical digestion takes
place, the small nutrients are ready to be ________________ by the body. The ________
intestine contains helpful ___________ that feed on the material passing through. The material
entering the large intestine contains __________ and _______________ food such as fiber. As
material moves through the large intestine, water is absorbed into the ___________________.
The remaining material is eliminated from the body through the __________ (this is a short
tube where waste is compressed into a solid form) and the ____________ (which is the
muscular opening).
Page 9 of 16
The Digestive System's Biological Function
The digestive system processes foods to pull __________ from them and to get rid of the rest.
Without this system, every part of our body would cease to function. Even small problems
with our digestive system can result in nutrient deficiencies, fatigue and digestive
discomfort.
Food must be processed in three ways: digestion, ___________, and elimination. The
digestive system is responsible for accomplishing all three of these biological functions. All
food ingested must be digested, nutrients absorbed, and unnecessary or harmful agents
eliminated from the body.
What is Mechanical Digestion?
Mechanical digestion is the process of physically breaking down food into smaller pieces.
There are two basic types of mechanical digestion.
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Mastication: ___________food begins the process of breaking down food into smaller
pieces. Chewing our food is an important part of digestion because smaller pieces are
more easily digested through chemical digestion. Smaller pieces = larger total surface
area.
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Peristalsis: Peristalsis is the involuntary contractions responsible for _____________of
food through the esophagus and intestines.
What is Chemical Digestion?
Chemical digestion is the process of breaking down food with chemicals. Digestive _________
and water are responsible for the breakdown of complex molecules such as fats, proteins,
and carbohydrates. These smaller molecules can then be absorbed for use by cells.
Enzymes accelerate digestion, where absence of these enzymes _________ overall digestion.
Currently, there are eight digestive enzymes mainly responsible for chemical digestion. The
salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gall bladder all produce at least one type of enzyme to
help with digestion.
What is Absorption?
Absorption occurs when nutrients are moved across cell membranes and into the
bloodstream so they can be used by ________ in the body to keep an organism alive.
Nutrients move across cell membranes by diffusion or osmosis, depending on whether the
nutrient is water or fat soluble. Fat soluble nutrients ___________into the bloodstream while
water soluble nutrients are carried into the bloodstream through __________.
Page 10 of 16
Our Mouth: The mouth prepares for digestion before food even enters. Just the smell, sight
or sound of food is enough to trigger __________ glands into action. Chemicals in saliva work
with the mechanism of the teeth and __________ to break down food in a way that both
prepares it for the next steps and ensure optimal absorption of nutrients. CHEW YOUR
FOOD!
The Pharynx: Now it's time for food to make its way down to the __________. To get there,
the tongue and soft palate work together to make food into a ball of chewed food called a
__________ and push it back, while sealing our trachea, to pass food through our pharynx. If
food isn’t well chewed it can get stuck here – causing you to choke.
The Esophagus: Food now enters the esophagus and is pushed through a series of
involuntary contractions, called ___________, toward the lower esophageal sphincter
otherwise known as LES. (This is the sphincter that malfunctions in conditions like GERD or
heartburn.)
The Stomach: Now the food has reached the stomach. The stomach acts as _________ and
grinder, mechanically digesting our food, while its acids and enzymes work to chemically
digest our food. In the end, our food is reduced to nothing more than nutritious liquid and
small solid remnants – now called __________. Some medications (aspirin), vitamin B12,
amino acids (protein shakes) and water, if you’re dehydrated, are absorbed in the stomach.
The Small Intestine: Chyme is now exposed to even more chemical digestion with enzymes
from the pancreas and bile from the _________as peristalsis forces the food farther through
the digestive tract. Here is where our body starts to really absorb the nutrients our food has
to offer. Nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal wall and are sent throughout the
________________ while the rest of the chyme travels to the large intestine. The nutrients
absorbed here include iron, lipids, vitamin B12, fructose, glucose and sodium bicarbonate.
The Colon: The large intestine’s job is to absorb any remaining _________, vitamin K,
thiamine, vitamin B12 and riboflavin from the chyme. Once the chyme is solid it is stored in
the ___________until you are ready to be eliminate the waste through the anus.
Page 11 of 16
Excretory System
The purpose of the excretory system is to ___________ wastes from the body.
This is very important in helping to maintain ________________. If this didn’t
happen, our wastes would reach toxic levels and we would die.
This does NOT include the removal of feces from the body – that is part of the
digestive system (on the previous page).
These are the four organs involved in the excretory system and what wastes
they produce:
 The _________ release carbon dioxide, which is a waste product from
cellular respiration. Cellular respiration occurs in every living cell in your
body and is the reaction that provides energy for cellular activities.
 The __________ breaks down some proteins and other nitrogen compounds
into a waste called _________.
 Sweat comes out of pores in your _________. Sweat is a mixture of three
wastes: _________, __________ and __________.
 The urinary system is composed of two _____________, two tubes called
____________, one urinary _____________, and another tube called the
_____________. Three wastes are filtered from the blood by the kidneys:
_________, __________, and __________. Notice that urine and sweat have
the same three wastes in them. So, they are made of basically from the
same ingredients just in different proportions.
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Nervous System
The purpose of the nervous system is to _____________ and ______________ electric signals to
and from the body. The nervous system directs behavior and ________________ and works
with the endocrine system to control processes like __________________ and
__________________.
The nervous system is divided into two major parts: the central nervous system and the
peripheral nervous system. The __________ and the ___________ _________ are considered to
be part of the central nervous system. All of the ___________ outside of this are a part of the
peripheral nervous system.
The __________ is the control center for the body. It is the organ that regulates and controls
our bodies’ activities, receives and interprets sensory impulses, and transmits information to
the ____________ and other ___________. It is also the seat of consciousness, thought, memory,
and emotion.
The __________ _________ is the main pathway for electrical signals to be sent to and from the
brain and body. The _____________ ___________ protects the spinal cord, as well as helping us
maintain our posture. Each vertebra has a special hole in it that the _________ ________ runs
through.
The peripheral nerves are connected to the __________ ________. They transmit
______________ signals to and from the other parts of the body and the spinal cord. The
peripheral nervous system is divided into two sections: the autonomic nervous system and
the somatic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system sends messages to and from
many organs and muscles that we __________ voluntarily control. For example, it controls the
muscles around the hairs in our skin and makes our hair “stand-up” when we are cold. It
also controls the muscles in our eyes that constrict our pupils when we encounter a bright
light. The somatic nervous system controls the movement and senses in our head (vision,
eye movement, taste, tongue movement, facial muscle movement, etc) and all of the
_______________ muscles in our bodies.
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Watch the video here: http://brainu.org/files/movies/synapseschange_pc.swf to help you fill
in the transcript below:
Transcript of how we learn:
We’re the neurons in your brain. We talk to _________________ to control everything your
body does. When I want to send a message, an action potential travels down my
__________to my nerve terminals. When an action potential gets to my _________________,
neurotransmitter is released into the synaptic cleft. Receptors on my __________________
taste the neurotransmitter and a small electrical signal called a post-synaptic potential
travels to my ___________(cell body). But with so many synapses on my dendrites, which
ones do I listen to? _____________________________________
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Hi, we are neurotransmitters. We are released from an axon ______________. We
wander through the synaptic cleft to a nearby _________________.
Hi, I’m an axon terminal (AT). I release ____________________________, which is sent
into the synaptic cleft for dendritic spines to taste.
Me, I’m a dendritic spine (DS)! I receive neurotransmitter and if I taste enough of
them, I send an _____________________ signal to the soma!
So, how do synapses get stronger? By working _____________________!
AT - If we release our neurotransmitter at the same time…
DS - My post-synaptic potentials are __________________!
When this happens many times, changes occur at the ________________
DS - I make more _________________ to taste all that neurotransmitter.
AT - We get better at releasing neurotransmitter too.
With lots of activity, new __________________ may be formed. When some connections get
stronger, the _______________ ones lose out. When you _________________ an activity, proper
connections are made. Each __________________ carries information
.
Summary:
1. Neurons in your body communicate with each other.
2. The parts of a synapse are the axon (nerve) terminal, neurotransmitters, the synaptic
cleft, and dendritic spines.
3. When you practice what you learn, changes occur at your synapses.
Integumentary System
The integumentary system consists of three parts: skin, hair, and nails.
The five main functions of the integumentary system are:
1. __________________ from infection and injury
2. regulating body _________________
3. eliminating __________ products
4. retaining body ___________
5. producing ____________ D
Page 14 of 16
Here are some examples of how the integumentary system protects us from
infection and injury. Your _________________ (which is hair) keep foreign
objects out of your eyes. Your _________ protect your fingertips and the tips of
your toes by providing a hard cover. Your skin keeps out _______________,
________________, and ______________, and it keeps in your _______________,
________________, and ______________.
The integumentary system regulates our body temperature in these ways.
When we get too hot we ______________. Hair keeps our body from getting too
___________.
The integumentary system eliminates waste products by sweating. Sweat
contains ____________, ______________, and _____________.
The integumentary system retains body fluids by using your __________ like a
large bag. It keeps all your fluids in your body.
Your skin produces vitamin D by using _________________.
The part of your hair and nails that you see is actually _________ - which is one
reason it doesn’t hurt to have your hair or nails cut. The only living portion of
your hair and nails is at the root of the hair follicle and at the base of the nail.
When your hair gets pulled out it hurts because there are ___________ nearby.
Your hair is colored by the same substance that colors your _________ melanin.
Page 15 of 16
Reproductive System
An ________ is the female sex cell. A __________ is the male sex cell. The
joining of a sperm and an egg is called ____________________.
The purpose of the male reproductive system is to produce sperm and the
hormone _______________________. The __________ are the organs in which
___________ are produced. The testes also produce the hormone testosterone,
which controls the ____________________ of male physical characteristics. The
testes (sometimes called testicles) are located in an external pouch called the
_____________. Each sperm has a head that contains ____________________ and a
long, whip-like tail. Sperm mixes with fluid and this mix is called ____________.
Semen and urine both leave the body through the _____________ which runs
through the penis.
The role of the female reproductive system is to produce _________ and, if an
egg is fertilized, to _____________ a developing baby until birth. The
_____________ are organs that produce both eggs and hormones. One hormone,
_____________, triggers the development of some adult female characteristics.
There are two oviducts (or fallopian tubes) which lead from the ___________ to
the uterus (womb). Each _________, one of the ovaries releases an egg. The
egg moves through the oviduct, which leads to the uterus. Fertilization usually
occurs in the oviduct. If the egg is fertilized, it remains in the ___________
(which is a hollow muscular organ) and begins to develop. The vagina is a
muscular ________________ leading to the outside of the body, through which a
baby travels once it has fully developed. If the egg is not fertilized, the egg and
the ___________ of the uterus break down. The extra blood and tissue of the
thickened lining (the uterus had been preparing for a fertilized egg by
thickening the lining) travel out of the body through the vagina. This process is
called _____________________.
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