![]() Our aim is to show that the representation of this phenomenon substantially changes when shifting from a standard characterization in terms of feedback loops to an original one grounded in organizational principles. We do so by focusing on a particular case study: the regulation of plasma glucose concentrations (glycemia) in mammals. In the context of the issue topic “Multilevel Organization and Functional Integration in Organisms,” the general objective of this investigation is to propose a “proof of concept,” an illustration of how organicist – and more precisely, organizational – principles can advantageously modify biological modeling. In a first approximation (see Section “Organizational Principles” for more details), organization refers to a regime in which (1) a set of parts are related to each other so as to constitute a system that displays both functional differentiation and integration (2) the activity of the whole system plays a role in producing and maintaining its parts over time: organized systems maintain themselves.Īlthough organicism is gaining momentum in the theoretical literature, a wider reception in biology would be achieved if its applications were shown to improve experimental and modeling practices. We use the term ‘organization’ to refer to a certain mode of interaction between the parts of a system, distinctively realized by biological organisms when compared to other kinds of natural systems or to artifacts. One of the fundamental notions of organicism is ‘organization,’ a concept more specific than a mere synonym of ‘configuration’ or ‘arrangement,’ which relies on a rich theoretical tradition inspired by the work of Kant (1790) and Bernard (1865) and further developed in the 1960’s and 1970’s ( Piaget, 1967 Rosen, 1972 Pattee, 1972 Varela et al., 1974 Gánti, 1975). According to organicism, theoretical and experimental biology – and notably physiology – should address aspects of living systems in light of their integration into a coherent unit, understood as a natural system endowed with a distinctive complexity 1. ![]() In recent years, an increasing number of contributions in theoretical biology and philosophy have been advocating an organicist perspective ( Gilbert and Sarkar, 2000 Etxeberria and Umerez, 2006 Soto and Sonnenschein, 2006 Moreno and Mossio, 2015 Soto and Sonnenschein, 2018). We expect that the proposed theoretical framework will open the way to the construction of original mathematical models, which would provide a better understanding of endocrine regulation from an organicist perspective. We show that, when compared to feedback loops, organizational closure can generate much richer descriptions of the processes and constraints at play in the metabolism and regulation of glycaemia, by making explicit the different hierarchical orders involved. Closure refers specifically to the mutual dependence among functional constraints in an organism. ![]() From this perspective, biological systems are understood as organized ones, which means that they are constituted of a set of mutually dependent functional structures acting as constraints, whose maintenance depends on their reciprocal interactions. ![]() ![]() Here, we put forward a different, organicist perspective on the endocrine regulation of glycaemia, by relying on the pivotal concept of closure of constraints. In particular, feedback loops focus on the maintenance of the plasma concentrations of glucose within a narrow range. Endocrinologists apply the idea of feedback loops to explain how hormones regulate certain bodily functions such as glucose metabolism. ![]()
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