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1. An athlete travels to the Colorado Rockies to train for an upcoming marathon.

ID: 12407 • Letter: 1

Question

1. An athlete travels to the Colorado Rockies to train for an upcoming marathon. He runs 15 miles every other day and while breathing O2 deficient air. His blood O2 levels become lowered as a result. His kidney cells sense the reduction in O2 and secrete a hormone, erythropoietin into the blood stream. The hormone circulates to the bone marrow where it acts on stem cells. The stem cells differentiate into mature red blood cells which can carry additional oxygen.

1. What is the stimulus?
2. What is the efferent pathway?
3. What is the effector?
4. Is this a negative or positive feedback mechanism? Explain your answer.

*Note: [This is whole one question by the way].

Explanation / Answer

1. The stimulus, so the cause of all this, is the breathing of O2 deficient air. 2. The efferent pathway is the bloodstream, since that is how the hormone gets to its destination. 3. The effector, the cause of the hormone secretion, would be the kidney cells. 4. This is a positive feedback mechanism, since an output is enhanced or strengthened, in this case erythropoietin levels.