If you're talking anatomy and physiology, you're talking about the human body and its organs. The 11 systems in the following table provide the means for every human activity — from breathing to eating to moving to reproducing:
System | What the System Includes | What the System Does |
Integumentary | Skin and its accessories | Protects underlying tissues, regulates body temperature |
Skeletal | Bones and connective tissues | Provides framework, protects underlying soft tissues, produces blood cells |
Muscular | Skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle | Powers movement, maintains posture, generates heat |
Nervous | Brain, spinal cord, nerves, sensory organs and cells | Communicates via impulse, integrates functions of other body systems |
Endocrine | Pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenals glands; pancreas; ovaries; and testes | Communicates via hormones |
Cardiovascular | Heart, blood vessels, and blood | Transports materials throughout body |
Lymphatic | Tonsils, spleen, thymus, lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, and lymph | Provides immunity, filters tissue fluid |
Digestive | Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines (alimentary canal), and accessory organs (including salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder) | Obtains nutrients from food |
Respiratory | Nose and mouth, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs | Performs gas exchange with blood (oxygen in, carbon dioxide out) |
Urinary | Kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra | Filters waste from the blood for excretion, retains water |
Reproductive | Ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, vagina, and vulva in females; testes, seminal vesicles, penis, urethra, prostate, and bulbourethral glands in males | Produces offspring |