title: Look at physiological integration.
abstract: Physiological integration results from cooperating processes at work within an individual. Two chief types of study are a) empirical experiments and generalizations, and b) predictive relations derived from models. In this essay the empirical type is illustrated. For example, heart rates and other circulatory properties are modified in response to messages from specific muscles, viscera, glands. In those tissues, augmented blood flow increases the supplies of oxygen and other substances at active local sites. Because specialized actions are segregated among tissues and organs, each performer evidently informs cooperating tissues of its state. Messages are transmitted at various kinds of junctions and chemical receptors. In this essay the results or actions are emphasized: in what ways do the compounded processes promote survival and advantage? Messages are sorted as they travel, certain powers of decision residing at cellular junctions. Because selected processes are corrdinated, each compound action represents an accomplishment. Thermoregulation serves as an example of relations by which several parameters yield a complex result. The multiple correlations and the intricate timing and switching are recognized.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D006339:Heart Rate; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000502:physiology; D010827:Physiology; D011955:Receptors, Drug / Q000502:physiology; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011955:Receptors, Drug