RT Book, Section
A1 Rudolph, Colin D.
A1 Rudolph, Abraham M.
A1 Lister, George E.
A1 First, Lewis R.
A1 Gershon, Anne A.
SR Print(0)
ID 6737737
T1 Chapter 80. Fundamental Concepts of Child Development
T2 Rudolph's Pediatrics, 22e
YR 2011
FD 2011
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-149723-7
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6737737
RD 2024/09/14
AB No  single  construct  has  been  more  central  in  the  development  of  the  biologic  sciences  than  homeostasis.  Although  the  term  homeostasis  was  coined  in  the  20th  century,  its  conceptual  origin  can  be  traced  to  the  notion  of  a  stable,  relatively  unchanging  internal  environment,  which  was  first  described  by  Claude  Bernard  in  the  19th  century.  Bernard  recognized  the  fragility  of  life,  surrounded  as  it  is  by  a  constantly  threatening,  aversive,  and  often  pathogenic  environment,  and  he  argued  that  viability  in  the  face  of  external  challenge  depends  on  an  organism’s  capacity  for  protecting  its  internal  milieu.  In  this  context,  homeostasis  is  a  dynamic,  self-regulating  process  that  ensures  constancy  and  permanence  in  the  internal  physiologic  state  through  complex,  multilevel  feedback  systems  that  respond  to  a  deviation  in  one  direction  with  a  countering  adjustment  in  the  opposite  direction.  Thus,  the  fundamental  goal  of  a  homeostatic  system  is  to  maintain  an  inerrant  “set  point”  that  assures  stable  and  continuous  biologic  functioning.  The  regulation  of  body  temperature,  cortisol  suppression  of  adrenocorticotropic  hormone  (ACTH)  secretion,  and  glycogenolysis  during  periods  of  hypoglycemia  are  all  examples  of  feedback  loops  that  protect  the  continuity  and  equilibrium  of  an  organism’s  interior.