nervous system

1. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
KEY CONCEPT
The nervous system and the endocrine system
provide the means by which organ systems
communicate.

2. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
Exercises
• Why does your body need a communication system?
• What are three differences between the ways in which
the endocrine system and the nervous system work?
• Which system, the endocrine or the nervous system,
controls the rate at which you blink? Explain.
• How might a clogged blood vessel affect the nervous
system’s and the endocrine system’s abilities to deliver
signals?
• What structures on a cell membrane might ensure that
the endocrine system’s signals only affect the cells for
which they were intended?

3. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
The body’s communication systems help maintain
homeostasis.
• A stimulus causes a response.
– Responses can be chemical, cellular, or behavioral.
– The nervous and endocrine systems respond to stimuli.

4. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
• The nervous system controls
thoughts, movement, and
emotion.
• The endocrine system controls
growth, development, and
digestion.

5. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
The nervous and endocrine systems have different
methods and rates of communication.
• The nervous system works quickly, using chemical and
electrical signals.
spinal
chord
nerves
– interconnected network of
cells
– signals move through cells
– divided into central nervous
system (CNS) and peripheral
nervous system (PNS)

6. 29.1 How Organ Systems Communicate
• The endocrine system works more slowly.
– only chemical signals
– signals move through bloodstream
– physically unconnected organs
receptor
target cell
not a target cell
bloodstream
hormone