The human body is a living, breathing, thing. Because the immune system is apart of the human body, it must follow the 10 COL's in order to properly function and carry out it's many jobs. The immune system also works hard to maintain balance, or homeostasis, in the body at all times. We will now explore how the immune system does all these miraculous things to protect us from invaders and keep the body running.
Characteristics of Life
The Immune System performs one main COL of life:
Regulation: Regulation is when your body responds to changes in it's internal and external environments. Because the immune system’s job is to fight off invaders, the only way it can do this is to perform regulation and to be aware of what is entering and exiting the body. So, when you get a fever, your body’s temperature rises in order to kill off viruses. In defense to illness, the body sends out the good guys, or antibodies, to fight off the pathogens, or bad guys, that carry infections and diseases, like the flu. However, the body can only do this because it monitors what exits and most importantly enters the human body, so the immune system can be on top of when to send out it’s “army” to fight of the invaders.
Regulation: Regulation is when your body responds to changes in it's internal and external environments. Because the immune system’s job is to fight off invaders, the only way it can do this is to perform regulation and to be aware of what is entering and exiting the body. So, when you get a fever, your body’s temperature rises in order to kill off viruses. In defense to illness, the body sends out the good guys, or antibodies, to fight off the pathogens, or bad guys, that carry infections and diseases, like the flu. However, the body can only do this because it monitors what exits and most importantly enters the human body, so the immune system can be on top of when to send out it’s “army” to fight of the invaders.
Homeostasis and Corresponding Systems
Maintaining Homeostasis in the Immune System
The immune system is in charge of sending out "fighters" to help fight off the invaders, or the viruses and diseases. However, they cannot do this without knowing when to do it, so they must preform regulation, in order to know how to respond to changes in the internal and external environments, like viruses. So, when you get a fever, your body temperature rises in order to kill off viruses. In defense to illness, the body sends out the good guys (antibodies) so they can fight off the invaders or the pathogens that carry diseases and infections, like the flu. After doing it's job, the body can return to it's normal temperature level and normal conditions. By using the immune system's powerful army and raising the body's temperature to defend the body from the "evil guys", the immune system is able to maintain homeostasis and balance.
How does the Immune System Correspond with other Systems?
The circulatory system, which is in charge of feeding the body and keeping things flowing from cell to cell, works together with the immune system. It does this by transporting things like white blood cells all over the body to help fight off bacteria/viruses. The circulatory system and the immune system both have white blood cells in them, which attack foreign substances and help fight off invading "bad guys", such as pathogens. Without the circulatory system to help transport the body's white blood cells army, the immune system wouldn't be able to stop the spread of dangerous bacteria. Not only does the immune system work with the circulatory system, but also with eh skeletal-muscular system. The skeletal-muscular system is in charge of adding structure and movement to the body, but it is also the producer of white blood cells. In the bone marrow found within the bones of your body, white blood cells are born and then shipped off (by the circulatory system) to fight off diseases. Without the help of these two other systems, the immune system would not be able to function and produce it's key cells, white blood cells.
