The Complexity of Human Organs

Over the last two units, you have learned about the structure of the human body, from cells to tissues to organs and organ systems. An organ is a structure composed of two or more tissues that work together to perform a specific function. Each organ has a function vital to maintaining your body in homeostatic balance. In this assignment, you will each be assigned a specific organ to research based on the first letter of your last name. You will then evaluate the organ’s structure and complexity and how this structure is related to the organ’s functions. Your APA-formatted essay should:

1. Provide an introduction that describes the scope (goal) of the assignment and identifies the assigned organ.
2. Describe your assigned organ, including the general shape of the organ, the location of this organ, and identify what organ system it belongs to in the human body.
3. Describe in detail the importance of the assigned organ to the function of the body as a whole.
   1. What are the functions of the assigned organ?
   2. Describe the major functions of the organ system that the organ belongs to.
   3. How does the organ contribute to homeostasis?
4. Identify and describe which of the four tissue types (epithelial, connective, muscle, and/or nervous tissues) are present in the assigned organ.
5. Describe at least three cell types that are present in the assigned organ. Your description should address whether these cell types have any special structures (e.g., presence of microvilli and/or abundance of particular organelle such as mitochondria) and how they contribute to the overall function of the organ.
6. Explain how the tissue and/or cell types in the assigned organ work together to aid in the function of the organ.
7. Discuss what might happen if the assigned organ was made of a different tissue type and if it was made of only one type of cell. How would homeostasis be compromised if this happened?

The organ assigned to you for this essay is listed below and is based on the first letter of your last name:

First Letter of Last Name

Organ

A-D

Heart

E-H

Lung

I-M

Kidney

N-R

Skin

S-V

Liver

W-Z

Stomach

Basic Writing Requirements:

• Essay should be formatted as per APA-formatting guidelines.
• Should include a cover page, an introduction, and a conclusion.
• The body of the essay should address the different topics and questions described above.
• All statements of fact should be included in an APA reference list at the end of the essay.
• The essay should be a minimum of 750 words in length not counting the cover page and reference list.

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Submitting Your Assignment

Save your copy of the APA-formatted assignment in a location and with a name that you will remember. Be sure to use the “Save As” option to include your first and last name in the title of the document. For example, your assignment might be called Shawn_Edwards_Assignment4.doc

When you are ready, submit your work via the Dropbox.

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