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Physiology is the study of the regulation of change within organisms, in this case higher animals.

Our understand­ing of physiology has changed dramatically in the past 30 years as a result of insight into the molecular basis of biological regulation. This chapter summarizes (and simpli­fies considerably) our current understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of that regulation.

Most of the principles in this chapter apply to all animal cells. The approach taken is one of functional molecular anatomy. That is, the molecular structure of the cell is examined with particular emphasis on the physiological function, in the intact animal, of the molecules and Supramolecular structures responsible for the function. Only those aspects of cell function that illuminate the medical physiology of the higher animals are discussed; the reader is referred to the Bibliography for more complete coverage of the cell. Some review of basic concepts and vocabulary is presented. However, the discussion assumes that the reader is familiar with the cell and its constituent molecules, as presented in courses in general biology and an undergraduate course in biochemistry.

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Source: Cunningham J.G., Klein B.G.. Textbook of Veterinary Physiology. Elsevier Health Sciences,2007. — 720 ð.. 2007

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