Go Back   Student Doctor Network Forums > Medical Student Forums > USMLE and COMLEX > Step I

Step I Discuss strategies and issues for the USMLE and COMLEX Step 1. RSS: Feed Icon


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-19-2012, 12:34 PM   #1
2K Member
 
Phloston's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,219
SDN Gold Donor
Default Atrial natriuretic peptide negative-feedback loop?


SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)
GT says that ANP exerts negative-feedback on the renin-angiotensin system.

To my understanding, a negative-feedback loop implies the inhibition of production/secretion of a moiety via the downstream effects of that moiety itself.

In other words, I would think that negative-feedback refers to the decreased production of a molecule not due to a moiety external to the production-cascade of that molecule.

With prolactin negative-feedback, for instance, increased prolactin leads to increased dopamine production, which in turn inhibits prolactin. There's no "external" molecule regulating that intrinsic loop, and in turn prolactin exerts negative-feedback on its own production.

With respect to ANP, however, I would think it's considered external to the renin-angiotensin loop because it's not actually produced in order to carry out the effects of that loop. So if ANP reduces activity of the renin-AT loop, that's not actually negative-feedback.


Any thoughts here / food for discussion?

Cheers,
Phloston is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-19-2012, 12:59 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
spyderracing32's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 374
SDN 2+ Year Member
Default

Semantics. It's the end product of RAAS activation in the sense that it is produced in response to the increase in blood volume due to the combined effects of ATII and aldosterone, but I can see why you might say it's outside of the system. I personally don't like the boundary because it's an integrated system and it seems kind of arbitrary to me.
spyderracing32 is offline   Reply With Quote

Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:19 AM.


Comments are closed.