Physiology and Anatomy

The term anatomy refers to the science that deals with the form and structure of animals. Physiology deals with the study of functions of the body or any of its parts. A thorough knowledge of the structure of an animal imparts a lot of information about the various functions it is capable of performing. All animals are made up of cells, some of which are specialized to carry out different functions. Simple animals, such as sponges, are made up of only a few types of cell. In more complex animals, cells are organized into tissues, such as muscles and nerves that are necessary for movement. Tissues can form organs, such as the heart, which is used to pump blood around the circulatory system. An understanding of physiology underpins advances in biomedical research, so research in animal physiology impacts broadly on medicine, agriculture, industry and environmental science. In line with the broad scope of this topic, the research uses a huge range of techniques and model organisms and approaches span the study of single cells in culture and the ways they respond to their substrate and environment, through to the study of cellular physiology in living animals and the way whole organ systems develop and respond to environmental stress.

This book ‘Physiology and Anatomy’ describes the structure of the animal body and the way in which it works. It describes the principles of physiology that underlie all animals, rather than focusing exclusively on humans. It provides a comprehensive overview of physiological systems in an efficient and concise manner by moving between description of general principles of physiology and specific examples of these principles from a variety of animal species. Veterinary nurses need to have a firm grasp of the normal structure of an animal’s body and how it functions before they can understand the effect diseases and injuries have and the best ways to treat them. It provides the learner the relevant knowledge of the structure and the function of the animal body to enable the learner to provide better animal care.