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LAB REPORT
Lauren Willey
THERMOREGULATION
Sweatglandswerediscoveredin1833bytheCzechphysiologistJohannesPirkinje.Weperspire
tocoolourbodiesdownthroughevaporatedcoolingfromexhaledmoisture.Weexperience
waterlossthroughtransepidermalwatervapordiffusionandsecretionfromtheeccrinesweat
glands.Sweatglanddensitiesvarywidelyacrosstheskinsurfacewithanapproximatetotalof
2.03millionfunctionalglands.Plantsandanimalslosewaterpassivelythroughsemipermeable
membranes,evenundercoolconditions.
Inastudydonetoobservetemperaturerecovery,itwasfoundthatareaswithhigherdensityof
sweatglandsrecoveredquickerthanthoselessdense
withsweatglands.Twoareaswereassessed,thepalm
ofthehandandtheforehead.Twominutesafter
applyingicetoeachareaforthirtyseconds,the
foreheadreturnedbacktonormaltemperaturewhile
thepalmdidnot.
Sweatglanddensitieswerefoundbyplacingadropof
Iodineonthedesiredareaofthebody.Afterithasdried,a1cmby1cmpeiceofbondpaperis
placedonthisspot.Dependingonhowmanysweatglandsthereare,afterafewminutesthere
willbedotsfoundonthebondpaper.Thesedotsaresweatglands.Thesweatglanddensities
werefoundforfourdifferentareas:Palmofhand,finger(middlephalanx,forehead,andfoot
(ventral,bottom).Comparedtoaveragedensities,theresultsfoundwereallbelowaverage.In
conclusion,theseareasmayproducelesssweatthannormalduetothelimitedamountofsweat
glands.
SENSORY FUNCTIONS
Thesenseoftouchallowslivingorganismstoidentify
objectsandchoosewhatactionswetakenext.Ourskinis
elasticenablingustodetermineanobjectssize,shape,and
textureeveninthedark.Fourclassesofmechanoreceptors
receptorsintheskinsendinformationtothebrainaboutthe
forceandspeedofmotionwhencontactwithotherobjectsor
organismsismade.Mechanoreceptorsdetectthemechanical
energyappliedtotheskin.Moremessagesfromthousandsof
nervefibersaresentbyneuronsinthecerebralcortex.The
principletouchreceptorsfoundintheglabrous,orhairlessskin,
ofthelips,palm,fingers,andsoleofthefootareMeissner
corpuscleandtheMerklecellneuritecomplex.
Inatwopointdiscriminationtest,theareasfoundtohave
theleastamountofreceptorswerethescalp,backofneck,
upperback,andupperarm.Intheseregions,thereweregreateramountsofspacebetweeneach
touchreceptor.Areaswheretherewerelargeamountsofreceptorsincludethetipoftheindex
finger,bigtoe,andthefifthtoe.Thesepointsshowedtohavelessdistancebetweeneach
receptor.Inconclusion,itwasfoundthatglabrousskinhadahighdensityoftouchreceptors
whilethosehairyskinareashadlimitedamounts.
WORKS CITED
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