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All our inner organs and tissues require a constant environment to work effectively. Warm-blooded animals keep a core body temperature around 98°F as the cells function at an optimal capacity at this temperature. The core body temperature of cold-blooded animals is the same as the surrounding environment and animals need to move into warmer or colder environments so that the internal state becomes ideal for physiological processes. One of the fundamental concepts in life sciences and medical and veterinary practice is that our internal states maintain stability through a process called Homeostasis. Originally coined by Walter B Cannon, homeostasis describes a series of internal physiological components that seek to maintain a fixed state established by set points (e.g., 98°F core body temperature). Any deviations in homeostasis leads to severe pathology such as hypothermia or death. But it is becoming increasingly clear that homeostatic set points vary predictably with time or new, temporary set points can be created. The concept of rheostasis, described as the regulated change in physiology, accounts for how homeostatic set points can change to optimize our health and wellbeing, and survival in all animals. Daily changes in hormones, sleep-wake cycles, female reproductive cycles, and seasonal breeding in animals are excellent examples to show regulated changes in physiology. In this book, the concept of rheostasis is re-examined through the lens of 30 years of discoveries that include newly identified genes, increases in our understanding of the internal activity in cells, scientific advances in how neurons in the brain communicate with each other, complex imaging, and identifying how the brain creates representations of our environment. This book aims to present a new way of thinking about how our bodies maintain physiological stability and proposes that homeostasis and rheostasis act independently and evolved separately to maintain stability by entirely distinct processes. The new conceptual model described indicates that our physiological systems have a tiered level of organization with significant implications for how we maintain our health and the treatment of common illnesses such as some bacterial or viral infections, as well as complex treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Homeostatic Control of Brain Function offers a broad view of brain health and diverse perspectives for potential treatments, targeting key areas such as mitochondria, the immune system, epigenetic changes, and regulatory molecules such as ions, neuropeptides, and neuromodulators. Loss of homeostasis becomes expressed as a diverse array of neurological disorders. Each disorder has multiple comorbidities - with some crossing over several conditions - and often disease-specific treatments remain elusive. When current pharmacological therapies result in ineffective and inadequate outcomes, therapies to restore and maintain homeostatic functions can help improve brain health, no matter the diagnosis. Employing homeostatic therapies may lead to future cures or treatments that address multiple comorbidities. In an age where brain diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are ever present, the incorporation of homeostatic techniques could successfully promote better overall brain health. Key Features include · A focus on the homeostatic controls that significantly depend on the way one lives, eats, and drinks. · Highlights from emerging research in non-pharmaceutical therapies including botanical medications, meditation, diet, and exercise. · Incorporation of homeostatic therapies into existing basic and clinical research paradigms. · Extensive scientific basic and clinical research ranging from molecules to disorders. · Emerging practical information for improving homeostasis. · Examples of homeostatic therapies in preventing and delaying dysfunction. Both editors, Detlev Boison and Susan Masino, bring their unique expertise in homeostatic research to the overall scope of this work. This book is accessible to all with an interest in brain health; scientist, clinician, student, and lay reader alike.

Vitamin A-storing cells in the liver exist in the space between parenchymal cells and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells of the hepatic lobule, and store 50-80% of vitamin A in the whole body as retinyl palmitate in lipid droplets in the cytoplasm. In physiological conditions, these cells play pivotal roles in the regulation of vitamin A homeostasis. In pathological conditions such as hepatic fibrosis or liver cirrhosis, hepatic stellate cells lose vitamin A, and synthesize a large amount of extracellular matrix components including collagen, proteoglycan, glycosaminoglycan, and adhesive glycoproteins. Morphology of these cells also changes from the star-shaped stellate cells to that of fibroblasts or myofibroblasts. This book discusses and presents research on vitamin A-storing cells.

This book aims at presenting biologists and clinicians with a compact description of the physiological manifestations of sleep that are significant from the viewpoint of the principle of homeostasis. In the jargon of the physiological literature, the word “homeostasis”, introduced by W.B. Cannon (1926), refers to the existence of a constant state of extracellular body fluids with regard to their physical and chemical properties. Since normal cell function depends on the constancy of such fluids, in multicellular animals there are many regulatory mechanisms under the control of the central nervous system that act to maintain the constancy of the internal environment.The experimental study of homeostasis in wakefulness already revealed the nature and complexity of the underlying physiological mechanisms. Many of these regulatory mechanisms trigger compensatory changes according to the principle of negative feedback. In contrast, the control of homeostasis across sleep states is still an issue under debate concerning its physiological persistence and significance. The author's aim is to find the specific mechanistic proofs of the actual consistency or inconsistency of the principle in different states of sleep. In this respect, there are several interacting physiological functions that ought to be examined across the sleep states. The selection of the most significant experimental data is carried out with a view to present a simple but not simplistic approach to the issue.The book brings forth the evidence that the systemic homeostatic regulation of many physiological variables underlying cellular life is not active in a particular state of the ultradian sleep cycle in mammals. It also shows the theoretical and functional importance of the principle of homeostasis, as a criterion of the systemic characterisation of the integrative control of physiological functions by the central nervous system during sleep in mammals.

Obesity is one of the most relevant public health concerns today and it is now evident that body weight control is achieved through highly integrated physiological interactions like nutrient selection as well as being influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Moreover, energy balance regulation is a complex process aimed at maintaining constant energy stores. Presenting a detailed and comprehensive account of the roles of specific peptides in energy balance, food intake control and co-morbidities, this review provides a better understanding of the patho-physiology of energy balance and obesity.