Difference Between Anatomy and Physiology

When it comes to biology, anatomy and physiology are topics that you would often come across with.  They are two branches that are closely related to each other but are totally different from one another.  Anatomy is that branch of biology that focuses on the study of living things and their physical structure.  On the other side of the branches, you have physiology, which is generally the study of the body parts of the human body.  There are some experts who state that for one person to comprehend and understand the level of physiology they need to work on understanding the concept of anatomy.

In the main study of anatomy, it moves into understanding the size, shape and the location of the different structure of the human system.  This would often lead to that experimentation process wherein the naked eye can properly identify and check which area would be the where the organ or body part will be located.  Physiology focuses more on how organisms, organs and cells work in the function of the body part.  In short, the latter science would usually handle the chemical components of the inside of the body part while anatomy would only see the external areas.

When to study properly that branch of science, anatomists would usually require this dissection process to identify formally the body parts.  This is done by simply cutting and opening up the carcasses of the organism, including humans, which are being studied.  In short, the study would involve that physical appearance of the body parts.   To study physiology, a person needs to work with actual living things or tissues to understand fully how that body part would react to certain situations and events.  This would involve the identification and study of the release of neurotransmitters and the storage of energy in the human cells.

There are generally two sub-branches of anatomy.  These divisions are called the microscopic anatomy and the macroscopic anatomy or also called as gross anatomy.  The former would focus on the study of the physical appearance of cellular structures and the latter focuses on things that can be seen by the naked eye.  Physiology focuses more on the internal processes that define the body�s organism and have several sub-areas of focus such as human, animal physiology, cellular physiology and neurophysiology.  The need to study anatomy is derived from the medical professionals like x-ray technicians who are given the task to understand discrepancies in the physical structure.  Physiologists, meanwhile, are using this study to develop their own findings and calculations when it comes to treating diseases such as cancer.

Summary:

1. Anatomy is the study of the physical structure and appearance of the actual body itself while physiology is the study of the internal functions.
2. Anatomy is branch of biology wherein people like x-ray technicians can properly work bone or actual organ diseases or discrepancies while physiology works on the understanding of curing the internal function errors.
3. Physiology works on various sub-branches while anatomy mostly works on two variants or sub branches.