Credit: iStock Water balance is one of the most important functions of the body. The cells in the body require a stable environment to survive and work like they should. As originally put by the 19th century French physiologist Claude BernardMD: “La fixité du milieu intérieur est la condition de la vie libre, independante” (The … Continue reading Stay Hydrated to Keep Your Muscles Happy
Cell Physiology
2022’s Most-read I Spy Physiology Posts
Credit: iStock This year, as COVID-19 vaccines and boosters protected most of us from severe disease, scientists and educators returned to labs, classrooms and in-person meetings with a lot of new physiology research to share. In 2022, our member-contributors wrote about the physiology of space travel, new techniques to improve organ transplantation and why exercise … Continue reading 2022’s Most-read I Spy Physiology Posts
Spotlight On: Enzymes
Credit: iStock Proteins have lots of important functions in the body. One of them is to work as biological catalysts, which means they cause chemical changes or reactions in other substances. This group of proteins, called enzymes, bring about changes in the body while they remain unchanged themselves during the process. Learning the origins of … Continue reading Spotlight On: Enzymes
Extending the Window for Organ Recovery
Credit: iStock Oxygen is vital for maintaining normal cell function. It’s so important that even a few minutes without oxygen can cause a buildup of acid in the body. And that can lead to cell death and organ injury. Insufficient blood flow that can’t provide oxygen to organs and cells—which is called “ischemia”—is a major … Continue reading Extending the Window for Organ Recovery
Stopping Free Radicals in Their Tracks
Credit: iStock “Free radical” is a term you might have heard about, usually in the context of its link to rapid aging and cancer. But what exactly is a free radical? Free radicals—also called reactive oxygen species—and their toxic effects have been on scientists’ minds since their discovery about a hundred years ago. As scientists … Continue reading Stopping Free Radicals in Their Tracks
Spotlight On: Autophagy
Credit: iStock Defects in autophagy have been linked to several diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration, and infectious and immunological diseases. The significance of this process was highlighted in 2016 when Yoshinori Ohsumi, PhD, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his decades-long research on autophagy. You might already be wondering: What is autophagy … Continue reading Spotlight On: Autophagy
Post-vaccination Blues: Why Feeling Sick Is a Good Sign
Credit: iStock Many of us have experienced symptoms such as a sore arm or a fever after receiving vaccinations. Feeling a little under the weather can make some people hesitant to get a jab in the future. But these aftereffects are actually a good thing and an important part of how our bodies develop immunity … Continue reading Post-vaccination Blues: Why Feeling Sick Is a Good Sign
New Science on Deep Heat Creams, Herbicides and Daytime Sleepiness Presented at Experimental Biology 2021
Credit: iStock Scientists who study physiology and other biomedical research fields—including anatomy, biochemistry, pathology and pharmacology—network, collaborate and communicate about the latest research at the APS annual meeting at Experimental Biology (EB). This year’s virtual EB featured studies ranging from mitochondrial function and tissue repair to the effects of capsaicin on exercise performance. Read on to learn more … Continue reading New Science on Deep Heat Creams, Herbicides and Daytime Sleepiness Presented at Experimental Biology 2021
Small but Mighty: How Telomeres Could Control Vascular Aging
Credit: iStock As we get older, our cardiovascular system changes dramatically. Specifically, our blood vessels become stiffer and lose some of their ability to relax. This is known as endothelial dysfunction. Scientists debate and propose many theories about the specific causes of endothelial dysfunction with aging. Recently, telomeres have become a hot research topic. Telomeres … Continue reading Small but Mighty: How Telomeres Could Control Vascular Aging
The Key to Reversing Aging: Folded Mitochondria?
Credit: iStock Getting older is a fact of life. As we age, we can grow bigger, smarter and stronger. But at a certain point, our bodies often start to slow down. The idea behind why we age and why our bodies slow down is that we start to lose the ability to make enough energy … Continue reading The Key to Reversing Aging: Folded Mitochondria?