Describe several important generalizations about homeostatic control systems, including the difference between steady state and equilibrium.

The homeostatic control system is associated with preserving stable environmental conditions internally and thus performs regulatory response functions. The important generalizations of this homeostatic control system are

1)Stabilize the internal environment by balancing inputs and outputs.

2)If the internal environment feedback is negative, a change in variable is being regulated.

3)The homeostatic control system has no control on external environment and continuous change in the external environment changes the features of internal environment also.

4)Any regulated variable have a narrow range of normal values so that the internal environment can be strictly kept constant provided the external environment is not rapidly changing.

5)The homeostatic control system cannot maintain the entire internal environment by keeping a narrow normal range of variables.

Explanation:

1) The internal environment variables can be made stable by balancing the variations in the magnitudes of input and outputs.

2) The variable responses are changed by moving the variables in the opposite direction to balance the negative feedback. Therefore the variables are moved back to the initial point or set point.

3) Any changes produced in the external environment produces a direct effect on internal environment variables. Thus internal variables cannot be kept constant but the impact of external environment on these variables can be minimized.

4) It is observed that set points of some variables are reset by the homeostatic control systems i.e. they can be raised or lowered within physiological ranges.

5) It is recommended to keep a hierarchy of variables in terms of importance so that the important variables within the internal environment are altered to maintain all other variables in normal ranges.