Organ Systems

Skin, hair, and nails; cutaneous sense organs and glands

- Protects deeper organs from mechanical, chemical, and bacterial injury, and drying out.
- Excretes salts and urea
- Aids in regulation of body temperature
- Produces vitamin D

Bones, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and joints

-body support and protection of internal organs
-provides levers for muscular action
-cavities provide a site for blood cell formation
-bones store minerals

Muscles attached to the skeleton

- Primary function is to contract or shorten; in doing so, skeletal muscles allow locomotion (running, walking, etc.), grasping and manipulation of the environment, and facial expression
- Generates heat

Pituitary, thymus, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and pineal glands,; ovaries, testes, and pancreas

- Helps maintain body homeostasis
- Promotes growth and development
- Produces chemical messengers called hormones that travel in the blood to exert their effect(s) on various target organs of the body

Brain, spinal cord, nerves, and sensory receptors

- Allows body to detect changes in its internal and external environment and to respond to such information by activating appropriate muscles or glands
- Helps maintain homeostasis of the body via rapid transmission of electrical signals

Heart and blood vessels

- Primarily a transport system that carries blood containing oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, wastes, ions, hormones, and other substances to and from the tissue cells where exchanges are made; blood is propelled through the blood vessels by the pumping action of the heart.
- Antibodies and other protein molecules in the blood protect the body.

lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, spleen and thymus

- Picks up fluid leaked from the blood vessels and returns it to the blood.
- Cleanses blood of pathogens and other debris
- Houses lymphocytes that act via the immune response to protect the body from foreign substances.

Nasal cavities, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs

- Keeps the blood continuously supplied with oxygen while removing carbon dioxide
- Contributes to the acid-base balance of the blood via its carbonic acid-bicarbonate buffer system

Oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, and accessory structures including teeth, salivary glands, liver and pancreas

- Breaks down ingested foods to smaller particles, which can be absorbed into the blood for delivery to the body cells
- Undigested residue removed from the body as feces

Kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra

- Rids the body of nitrogen-containing wastes including urea, uric acid, and ammonia, which result from the breakdown of proteins and nucleic acids
- Maintains water, electrolyte, and acid-base balance of blood

Male: Testes, prostate gland, scrotum, penis, and duct system, which carries sperm to the body exterior
Female: Ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, mammary glands, and vagina

-provides gametes called sperm for perpetuation of the species
-provides gametes called eggs; the uterus houses the developing fetus until birth; mammary glands provide nutrition for the infant