Homeostasis Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Homeostasis and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Coagulation The ability of the body to maintain a state of homeostasis, or physiological equilibrium, is absolutely essential for effective, efficient functionality of all body systems.
The mechanisms involved in blood coagulation, also known as hemostasis or blood clotting, serve to illustrate this concept.
Hemostasis is the cessation of free blood flow, external to the vascular system, when a vessel wall has been breached.
With the maintenance of homeostasis in mind, it is vital that the body be able to rapidly repair vascular damage, arresting blood flow in the process, while simultaneously maintaining blood in a fluid state within the vascular compartment.
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| Coagulation Disorders This course began with a discussion on homeostasis, the body’s desire to maintain a status of physiological equilibrium. Our inborn system of chemical checks and balances, activators and inhibitors, can be disrupted by numerous factors, two of the more common being acquired disease states and disorders passed on to offspring via inheritance. In regard to coagulation, both disease status and genetics can adversely affect the functionality of many hemostatic processes. Impaired hemostatic mechanisms, be it acquired in cases of disease or inherent, may result in situations of either hemorrhage or thrombosis. A situation of hemorrhage, or bleeding external to the vasculature, most often stems from physical vessel trauma, but may also arise from a wide variety of disease states. Thrombosis does not require physical trauma, and is the activation of hemostatic processes at an inappropriate time in an inappropriate place, and may arise from a number of inherited or acquired disease states. The following pages are intended to serve as an introduction to some of the more commonly encountered coagulation disorders. | View Page |