Question

CAffeine affects homeostatsis such as blocking adenosine from binding to their receptors, causing dehydration, and more. But how would the body respond to regain homeostatsis?

Answer 1

how deep do you want your answer? =)

well you get thirsty, that's the main point. there is no real way to chemically 'produce' water, if you mean that. you will have to drink stuff and thus refill your water household from the top. once in your bladder, you can't regain the water you have lost. the caffeine eventually unbinds from the receptors, and thus the effect wil naturally weaken over time.

Answer 2

feel free to ask further, though :-) maybe I can also answer on specifics.

Answer 3

Oooh, that makes sense. How about when it block adenosine? So instead of feeling tired, caffiene will make you feel more awake. But you cant always be awake, since that isn't good for the body, so what would the body do?

Answer 4

AND is the body really doing anything? I feel like its more like when the dose of caffiene gets used up, we feel negative effects such as tiredness so we begin to associate tiredness with that drug, so we stray away from it.

Answer 5

These matters are kind of complex, and I don't understand every bit of it. But let's try. :-)

As far as I know, thre is a simple mechanism involved. It's called negative feedback. Your cells do that in almost every aspect of living. Take protein synthesis, for example. You take up food (glucose, for instance), which is broken down inside your cells (mostly mitochondria). You don't want to burn all energy at once, but steadily. This is manufactured as follows: The products of a given reaction (like: PEP + ADP -> Pyruvate + ATP) inhibit the enzyme that manufactures the reaction. If your cell has made enough ATP, then the ATP will cause you to NOT make any more.

Now, adenosine is a byproduct of many celular mechanisms that burn energy. So if the level of adenosine rises as a result of the cells working, it will inhibit such processes and cause you to get tired. This is the point where the caffeine kicks in. It occupies the adenosine receptors, thus hindering the negative feedback loop.

At this point, your body can't do anything about it. You can't get tired on purpose while on a caffeine spree. That's the nature of this kind of drug. The only way you are able to feel tired is if your adenosine concentration rises even more, so that the caffeine is kicked out of the receptors by sheer probability (way more adenosine than caffeine present).

Of course, over time the caffeine is digested, so that the spree ends. This is the point where the cells check how their situation is in the toilet right now, and do damage control by reducing their 'work processes' that create adenosine. In other words: we get tired.

Now, the addictive component comes from certain regions in the brain where caffeine leads to the secretion of dopamine. I am not a brain expert (more into cancer ^^), but I still hope I clarified these matters for you a bit. =)

Answer 6

Thanks, that did clarify a lot! :)