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Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a
living system Living systems are open self-organizing life forms that interact with their environment. These systems are maintained by flows of information, energy and matter. In the last few decades, some scientists have proposed that a general living systems ...
. As a sub-discipline of
biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
, physiology focuses on how
organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells ( cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fu ...
s, organ systems, individual organs,
cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
, and biomolecules carry out the chemical and
physical Physical may refer to: * Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor * ''Physical'' (Olivia Newton-John album), 1981 ** "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song) * ''Physical'' (Gabe Gurnsey album) * "Physical" (Alcazar song) (2004) * ...
functions in a living system. According to the classes of
organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells ( cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fu ...
s, the field can be divided into medical physiology,
animal physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...
, plant physiology,
cell physiology Cell physiology is the biological study of the activities that take place in a Cell (biology), cell to keep it alive. The term ''physiology'' refers to normal functions in a living organism. Animal cells, plant cells and microorganism cells show si ...
, and comparative physiology. Central to physiological functioning are biophysical and biochemical processes,
homeostatic In biology, homeostasis (British also homoeostasis) (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions maintained by living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning for the organism an ...
control mechanisms, and
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...
between cells. ''Physiological state'' is the condition of normal function. In contrast, '' pathological state'' refers to abnormal conditions, including human
disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
s. The
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accordi ...
is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for exceptional scientific achievements in physiology related to the field of
medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
.


Foundations


Cells

Although there are differences between
animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...
,
plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...
, and microbial cells, the basic physiological functions of cells can be divided into the processes of
cell division Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukaryotes, there ...
,
cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...
, cell growth, and
cell metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run c ...
.


Plants

Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
concerned with the functioning of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology, plant ecology, phytochemistry, cell biology,
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar work ...
, biophysics, and
molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...
. Fundamental processes of plant physiology include
photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...
, respiration,
plant nutrition Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements and compounds necessary for plant growth and reproduction, plant metabolism and their external supply. In its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle, or that the element i ...
, tropisms,
nastic movements Nastic movements are non-directional responses to stimuli (e.g. temperature, humidity, light irradiance), and are usually associated with plants. The movement can be due to changes in turgor. Decrease in turgor pressure causes shrinkage while ...
, photoperiodism, photomorphogenesis, circadian rhythms, seed germination, dormancy, and stomata function and
transpiration Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. Water is necessary for plants but only a small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth ...
. Absorption of water by roots, production of food in the leaves, and growth of shoots towards light are examples of plant physiology.


Animals


Humans

Human physiology seeks to understand the mechanisms that work to keep the
human body The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a hea ...
alive and functioning, through scientific enquiry into the nature of mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. The principal level of focus of physiology is at the level of organs and systems within systems. The endocrine and nervous systems play major roles in the reception and transmission of signals that integrate function in animals.
Homeostasis In biology, homeostasis ( British also homoeostasis) (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions maintained by living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning for the organism and ...
is a major aspect with regard to such interactions within plants as well as animals. The biological basis of the study of physiology, integration refers to the overlap of many functions of the systems of the human body, as well as its accompanied form. It is achieved through communication that occurs in a variety of ways, both electrical and chemical. Changes in physiology can impact the mental functions of individuals. Examples of this would be the effects of certain medications or toxic levels of substances. Change in behavior as a result of these substances is often used to assess the health of individuals. Much of the foundation of knowledge in human physiology was provided by animal experimentation. Due to the frequent connection between form and function, physiology and
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...
are intrinsically linked and are studied in tandem as part of a medical curriculum.


Comparative physiology

Involving evolutionary physiology and
environmental physiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to envi ...
, comparative physiology considers the diversity of functional characteristics across organisms.


History


The classical era

The study of human physiology as a medical field originates in classical Greece, at the time of
Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...
(late 5th century BC). Outside of Western tradition, early forms of physiology or anatomy can be reconstructed as having been present at around the same time in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, India and elsewhere. Hippocrates incorporated the theory of
humorism Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 1850s ...
, which consisted of four basic substances: earth, water, air and fire. Each substance is known for having a corresponding humor: black bile, phlegm, blood, and yellow bile, respectively. Hippocrates also noted some emotional connections to the four humors, on which
Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be o ...
would later expand. The critical thinking of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
and his emphasis on the relationship between structure and function marked the beginning of physiology in
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
. Like
Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...
, Aristotle took to the humoral theory of disease, which also consisted of four primary qualities in life: hot, cold, wet and dry. Galen (–200 AD) was the first to use experiments to probe the functions of the body. Unlike Hippocrates, Galen argued that humoral imbalances can be located in specific organs, including the entire body. His modification of this theory better equipped doctors to make more precise diagnoses. Galen also played off of Hippocrates' idea that emotions were also tied to the humors, and added the notion of temperaments: sanguine corresponds with blood; phlegmatic is tied to phlegm; yellow bile is connected to choleric; and black bile corresponds with melancholy. Galen also saw the human body consisting of three connected systems: the brain and nerves, which are responsible for thoughts and sensations; the heart and arteries, which give life; and the liver and veins, which can be attributed to nutrition and growth. Galen was also the founder of experimental physiology. And for the next 1,400 years, Galenic physiology was a powerful and influential tool in
medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
.


Early modern period

Jean Fernel (1497–1558), a French physician, introduced the term "physiology". Galen, Ibn al-Nafis, Michael Servetus,
Realdo Colombo Matteo Realdo Colombo (c. 1515 – 1559) was an Italian professor of anatomy and a surgeon at the University of Padua between 1544 and 1559. Early life and education Matteo Realdo Colombo or Realdus Columbus, was born in Cremona, Lombardy, the ...
,
Amato Lusitano João Rodrigues de Castelo Branco, better known as Amato Lusitano and Amatus Lusitanus (1511–1568), was a notable Portugal, Portuguese Jewish physician of the 16th century. He is sometimes is said to have discovered the valves in the vena ...
and William Harvey, are credited as making important discoveries in the
circulation of the blood The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, t ...
.
Santorio Santorio Santorio Santori (29 March, 1561 – 25 February, 1636) also called Santorio Santorio, Santorio de' Sanctoriis, or Sanctorius of Padua and various combinations of these names, was an Italian physiologist, physician, and professor, who introduce ...
in 1610s was the first to use a device to measure the pulse rate (the ''pulsilogium''), and a
thermoscope A thermoscope is a device that shows changes in temperature. A typical design is a tube in which a liquid rises and falls as the temperature changes. The modern thermometer gradually evolved from it with the addition of a scale in the early 17th ...
to measure temperature. In 1791 Luigi Galvani described the role of electricity in nerves of dissected frogs. In 1811, César Julien Jean Legallois studied respiration in animal dissection and lesions and found the center of respiration in the
medulla oblongata The medulla oblongata or simply medulla is a long stem-like structure which makes up the lower part of the brainstem. It is anterior and partially inferior to the cerebellum. It is a cone-shaped neuronal mass responsible for autonomic (invol ...
. In the same year, Charles Bell finished work on what would later become known as the Bell-Magendie law, which compared functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the
spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the sp ...
. In 1824,
François Magendie __NOTOC__ François Magendie (6 October 1783 – 7 October 1855) was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a ''Magendie sign'', a downward an ...
described the sensory roots and produced the first evidence of the cerebellum's role in equilibration to complete the Bell-Magendie law. In the 1820s, the French physiologist Henri Milne-Edwards introduced the notion of physiological division of labor, which allowed to "compare and study living things as if they were machines created by the industry of man." Inspired in the work of Adam Smith, Milne-Edwards wrote that the "body of all living beings, whether animal or plant, resembles a factory ... where the organs, comparable to workers, work incessantly to produce the phenomena that constitute the life of the individual." In more differentiated organisms, the functional labor could be apportioned between different instruments or
systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expresse ...
(called by him as ''appareils'').R. M. Brain. ''The Pulse of Modernism: Physiological Aesthetics in Fin-de-Siècle Europe''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015. 384 pp.

In 1858, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, Joseph Lister studied the cause of blood coagulation and inflammation that resulted after previous injuries and surgical wounds. He later discovered and implemented antiseptics in the operating room, and as a result, decreased death rate from surgery by a substantial amount. The Physiological Society was founded in London in 1876 as a dining club.
The American Physiological Society The American Physiological Society is a non-profit professional society for physiologists. It has nearly 10,000 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology or other health professions. Its mission is to support research an ...
(APS) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1887. The Society is, "devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences." In 1891,
Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov ( rus, Ива́н Петро́вич Па́влов, , p=ɪˈvan pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈpavləf, a=Ru-Ivan_Petrovich_Pavlov.ogg; 27 February 1936), was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist, psychologist and physio ...
performed research on "conditional responses" that involved dogs' saliva production in response to a bell and visual stimuli. In the 19th century, physiological knowledge began to accumulate at a rapid rate, in particular with the 1838 appearance of the Cell theory of Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann. It radically stated that organisms are made up of units called cells. Claude Bernard's (1813–1878) further discoveries ultimately led to his concept of '' milieu interieur'' (internal environment), which would later be taken up and championed as "
homeostasis In biology, homeostasis ( British also homoeostasis) (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions maintained by living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning for the organism and ...
" by American physiologist
Walter B. Cannon Walter Bradford Cannon (October 19, 1871 – October 1, 1945) was an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term "fight or flight response", and developed the theory ...
in 1929. By homeostasis, Cannon meant "the maintenance of steady states in the body and the physiological processes through which they are regulated." In other words, the body's ability to regulate its internal environment. William Beaumont was the first American to utilize the practical application of physiology. Nineteenth-century physiologists such as Michael Foster,
Max Verworn Max Richard Constantin Verworn (4 November 1863 – 23 November 1921) was a German physiologist who was a native of Berlin. He studied medicine and natural sciences in Berlin, and later moved to Jena, where he furthered his studies with Ernst Ha ...
, and Alfred Binet, based on
Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new s ...
's ideas, elaborated what came to be called "general physiology", a unified science of life based on the cell actions, later renamed in the 20th century as cell biology.


Late modern period

In the 20th century, biologists became interested in how organisms other than human beings function, eventually spawning the fields of comparative physiology and ecophysiology. Major figures in these fields include Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and George Bartholomew. Most recently, evolutionary physiology has become a distinct subdiscipline. In 1920,
August Krogh Schack August Steenberg Krogh (15 November 1874 – 13 September 1949) was a Danish professor at the department of zoophysiology at the University of Copenhagen from 1916 to 1945. He contributed a number of fundamental discoveries within several ...
won the Nobel Prize for discovering how, in capillaries, blood flow is regulated. In 1954, Andrew Huxley and Hugh Huxley, alongside their research team, discovered the sliding filaments in skeletal muscle, known today as the sliding filament theory. Recently, there have been intense debates about the vitality of physiology as a discipline (Is it dead or alive?). If physiology is perhaps less visible nowadays than during the golden age of the 19th century, it is in large part because the field has given birth to some of the most active domains of today's biological sciences, such as
neuroscience Neuroscience is the science, scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, an ...
,
endocrinology Endocrinology (from '' endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental event ...
, and
immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...
. Furthermore, physiology is still often seen as an integrative discipline, which can put together into a coherent framework data coming from various different domains.


Notable physiologists


Women in physiology

Initially, women were largely excluded from official involvement in any physiological society. The American Physiological Society, for example, was founded in 1887 and included only men in its ranks. In 1902, the American Physiological Society elected Ida Hyde as the first female member of the society. Hyde, a representative of the American Association of University Women and a global advocate for gender equality in education, attempted to promote gender equality in every aspect of science and medicine. Soon thereafter, in 1913, J.S. Haldane proposed that women be allowed to formally join The Physiological Society, which had been founded in 1876. On 3 July 1915, six women were officially admitted:
Florence Buchanan Florence Buchanan (21 April 1867 – 13 March 1931) was a zoologist. She was awarded a London D.Sc. in 1902, was appointed as a Fellow of the University College London in 1904, and was awarded the American Association of Collegiate Alumnae's priz ...
, Winifred Cullis,
Ruth C. Skelton Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, A ...
,
Sarah C. M. Sowton Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a ...
,
Constance Leetham Terry Constance may refer to: Places * Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English * Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota *Constance (Portugal) *Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...
, and
Enid M. Tribe Enid may refer to: Places * Enid, Mississippi, an unincorporated community *Enid, Oklahoma, a city * 13436 Enid, an asteroid * Enid Lake, Mississippi Given name * Enid (given name), a Welsh female given name and a list of people and fictional char ...
. The centenary of the election of women was celebrated in 2015 with the publication of the book "Women Physiologists: Centenary Celebrations And Beyond For The Physiological Society." () Prominent women physiologists include: *
Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen (3 November 1918 – 27 April 2015) was a Danish-born American physiologist, who became the first woman president of the American Physiological Society in 1975. Biography Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen was born in Copenhagen, Denm ...
, the first woman president of the American Physiological Society in 1975. * Gerty Cori, along with husband Carl Cori, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947 for their discovery of the
phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...
-containing form of
glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...
known as glycogen, as well as its function within
eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...
metabolic mechanisms for energy production. Moreover, they discovered the
Cori cycle The Cori cycle (also known as the lactic acid cycle), named after its discoverers, Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori, is a metabolic pathway in which lactate, produced by anaerobic glycolysis in muscles, is transported to the liver and converted ...
, also known as the Lactic acid cycle, which describes how muscle tissue converts glycogen into lactic acid via lactic acid fermentation. * Barbara McClintock was rewarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of genetic transposition. McClintock is the only female recipient who has won an unshared Nobel Prize. * Gertrude Elion, along with George Hitchings and Sir James Black, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for their development of drugs employed in the treatment of several major diseases, such as
leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
, some autoimmune disorders,
gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...
,
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
, and viral herpes. * Linda B. Buck, along with
Richard Axel Richard Axel (born July 2, 1946) is an American molecular biologist and university professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work on the olfactory system won ...
, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 for their discovery of
odorant receptors Olfactory receptors (ORs), also known as odorant receptors, are chemoreceptors expressed in the cell membranes of olfactory receptor neurons and are responsible for the detection of odorants (for example, compounds that have an odor) which give r ...
and the complex organization of the olfactory system. *
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (; born 30 July 1947) is a French virologist and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division (french: Unité de Régulation des Infections Rétrovirales) and Professor at the in Paris, France. Born in Paris, France, Barré-Si ...
, along with
Luc Montagnier Luc Montagnier (; , ; 18 August 1932 – 8 February 2022) was a French virologist and joint recipient, with and , of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). He worked as a r ...
, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008 for their work on the identification of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). *
Elizabeth Blackburn Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, (born 26 November 1948) is an Australian-American Nobel laureate who is the former president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Previously she was a biological researcher at the University of California, ...
, along with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the genetic composition and function of telomeres and the enzyme called telomerase.


Subdisciplines

There are many ways to categorize the subdisciplines of physiology:Moyes, C.D., Schulte, P.M. Principles of Animal Physiology, second edition. Pearson/Benjamin Cummings. Boston, MA, 2008. * based on the taxa studied: human physiology, animal physiology, plant physiology, microbial physiology, viral physiology * based on the
level of organization An integrative level, or level of organization, is a set of phenomena emerging from pre-existing phenomena of a lower level. The levels concept is an intellectual framework for structuring reality. It arranges all entities, structures, and processes ...
:
cell physiology Cell physiology is the biological study of the activities that take place in a Cell (biology), cell to keep it alive. The term ''physiology'' refers to normal functions in a living organism. Animal cells, plant cells and microorganism cells show si ...
, molecular physiology,
systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expresse ...
physiology, organismal physiology,
ecological physiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to environm ...
, integrative physiology * based on the process that causes physiological variation: developmental physiology,
environmental physiology Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to envi ...
, evolutionary physiology * based on the ultimate goals of the research: applied physiology (e.g., medical physiology), non-applied (e.g., comparative physiology)


Physiological societies

Transnational physiological societies include: * American Physiological Society *
International Union of Physiological Sciences The International Union of Physiological Sciences, abbreviated IUPS, is the global umbrella organization for physiology. IUPS aims to facilitate initiatives that strengthen the discipline of physiology. IUPS is a scientific union member of the I ...
* The Physiological Society National physiological societies include: *
Brazilian Society of Physiology The Brazilian Society of Physiology (Sociedade Brasileira de Fisiologia, in Portuguese language, official abbreviation SBFis) is a learned society and association of students and professionals in physiology in Brazil. It is a member of the Brazil ...


See also

*
Outline of physiology The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to physiology: Physiology – scientific study of the normal function in living systems. A branch of biology, its focus is in how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, ...
*
Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
* Biophysics * Cytoarchitecture *
Defense physiology Defense physiology is a term used to refer to the symphony of body function ( physiology) changes which occur in response to a stress or threat. When the body executes the " fight-or-flight" reaction or stress response, the nervous system initiat ...
* Ecophysiology * Exercise physiology *
Fish physiology Fish physiology is the scientific study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. It can be contrasted with fish anatomy, which is the study of the form or morphology of fishes. In practice, fish anatomy and physi ...
*
Insect physiology Insect physiology includes the physiology and biochemistry of insect organ systems. Although diverse, insects are quite similar in overall design, internally and externally. The insect is made up of three main body regions (tagmata), the head, thor ...
*
Human body The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a hea ...
*
Molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...
* Metabolome *
Neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated ...
* Pathophysiology * Pharmacology *
Physiome The physiome of an individual's or species' physiological state is the description of its functional behavior. The physiome describes the physiological dynamics of the normal intact organism and is built upon information and structure (genome, prote ...


References


Bibliography

Human physiology * * Widmaier, E.P., Raff, H., Strang, K.T. ''Vander's Human Physiology''. 11th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2009. * Marieb, E.N. Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology. 10th Edition, Benjamin Cummings, 2012. Animal physiology * Hill, R.W., Wyse, G.A., Anderson, M. ''Animal Physiology'', 3rd ed. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, 2012. * Moyes, C.D., Schulte, P.M. ''Principles of Animal Physiology'', second edition. Pearson/Benjamin Cummings. Boston, MA, 2008. * Randall, D., Burggren, W., and French, K. ''Eckert Animal Physiology: Mechanism and Adaptation'', 5th Edition. W.H. Freeman and Company, 2002. * Schmidt-Nielsen, K. ''Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment''. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. * Withers, P.C. ''Comparative animal physiology''. Saunders College Publishing, New York, 1992. Plant physiology * Larcher, W. ''Physiological plant ecology'' (4th ed.). Springer, 2001. * Salisbury, F.B, Ross, C.W. ''Plant physiology''. Brooks/Cole Pub Co., 1992 * Taiz, L., Zieger, E. ''Plant Physiology'' (5th ed.), Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer, 2010. Fungal physiology * Griffin, D.H. ''Fungal Physiology'', Second Edition. Wiley-Liss, New York, 1994. Protistan physiology * Levandowsky, M. Physiological Adaptations of Protists. In: ''Cell physiology sourcebook: essentials of membrane biophysics''. Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier/AP, 2012. * Levandowski, M., Hutner, S.H. (eds). ''Biochemistry and physiology of protozoa''. Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Academic Press: New York, NY, 1979; 2nd ed. * Laybourn-Parry J. ''A Functional Biology of Free-Living Protozoa''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press; 1984. Algal physiology * Lobban, C.S., Harrison, P.J. ''Seaweed ecology and physiology''. Cambridge University Press, 1997. * Stewart, W. D. P. (ed.). ''Algal Physiology and Biochemistry''. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1974. Bacterial physiology * El-Sharoud, W. (ed.). ''Bacterial Physiology: A Molecular Approach''. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 2008. * Kim, B.H., Gadd, M.G. ''Bacterial Physiology and Metabolism''. Cambridge, 2008. * Moat, A.G., Foster, J.W., Spector, M.P. ''Microbial Physiology'', 4th ed. Wiley-Liss, Inc. New York, NY, 2002.


External links

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