Nervous System

1. Is -90 mV greater than 60mV, regarding the membrane potential? (hint: negative and positive don’t indicate
better or worse)

2. If you decrease resistance, what happens to current? Voltage?

3. What if you decrease current and voltage, what happens to resistance?

4. What would happen to the membrane potential if we only had Na + leakage channels? Only K+ channels?

5. What would happen if we ONLY increase intracellular K +? ONLY extracellular K +? What about ONLY intracellular
Na +? Only extracellular NA+?

6. What happens if we ONLY had Na+ leakage channels?

7. Fugu requires an extremely skilled and well-trained chef to prepare. What makes Fugu so dangerous for the
nervous system?

8. Why is ATP critical for maintaining the resting membrane potential? What happens if ATP stores are depleted?

9. What happens if the Na+ slow inactivation gates do not close in phase 3 of an AP?

10. What happens if Ca + never enters the axon terminal?

11. What happens if SNARE protein activity is inhibited (by something)?

12. Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani, are “cousins” and they result in botulism and tetanus,
respectively. Their toxin acts in the same way, but they produce opposing effects…how? (hint: First, you’ll want
to know the signs/symptoms of botulism and tetanus, then think about neuron behaviors and muscle
innervation.)

13. What happens if the receptor for a NT is blocked or absent?

14. If Glutamate is released into the synaptic cleft, what happens to the postsynaptic neuron?

15. Why would an injury to C7-T3 result in numbness? If so, where would you expect this numbness to present?

16. What happens to voluntary movement if you damage the dorsal root of the spinal cord?

a. When Bran the Broken, the First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six
Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm was a child he…uh “fell” from a tower because he was being a bit
of a pervert. Identify the spinal nerves likely damaged by his fall. Here is what we know:

i. His postural muscles are functional

ii. He has no voluntary control over his legs

iii. He has lost reflexes in his lower limbs

iv. He has no feeling in his legs

v. He may or may not be able function sexually

vi. He may or may not be able to control his bowels or bladder.

17. What are possible outcomes if the medulla oblongata were to be seriously damaged?

18. Why is it important that the ventricles span multiple brain region?
19. If someone were to suffer a major injury to the left thalamus, resulting in the death of “all” the neurons. What
are possible sensory and motor deficits?

20. How would memory be affected if the hippocampus suffered significant deterioration?

21. How does the loss of dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra affect dopamine levels? What neurological
condition is associated with the loss of these cells? What are the signs/symptoms?

22. What would happen to sensory & motor pathways if the dorsal root ganglion were to be completely severed at
thoracic levels? cervical levels? What about the ventral root?

23. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a naturally occurring substance (pufferfish/fugu) that selectively blocks Na voltage-gated
channels. If Professor Snape forced Harry to ingest TTX, what would be the impact on the resting membrane
potential? What would this TTX involvement mean for action potentials?

24. Following a concussive injury, we commonly see parasympathetic withdrawal. What effects might this have on
heart rate? Behaviors?

25. What symptoms would you expect if a person were injected with a nicotinic receptor blocker?

26. What happens if you administer a Beta blocker to a person with hypotension?

27. What happens if you administer an Alpha blocker to a person with hypotension?

28. Albuterol is a beta-2 agonist medication, how does this help people with asthma?

29. Why is epinephrine useful to help someone having an allergic reaction?

Endocrine System

30. How can both Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism result in Goiter?

31. The parents of a 17-year-old boy are concerned about his height because he is only 5 feet tall and they are both
close to 6 feet tall. After tests by their doctor, a certain hormone is prescribed for the boy. What is the probable
diagnosis, and what hormone was prescribed? Why might the child still expect to reach his growth potential?

32. John is a 26-year-old man who begins to notice a progressive enlargement of feet, hands, cranium, nose, and
lower jaw bone. His doctor recommends a pituitary gland operation. What is the most likely diagnosis? Why?

33. In Grave’s Disease, how is it that T3-T4 stimulation doesn’t stop? What is the stimulus? Feedback mechanism?

34. What happens to blood glucose with chronically elevated levels of cortisol?

35. What is the role of hormone producing cells found within the heart? How are they stimulated? What organs do
they influence? What is the end result?

Blood

36. Trace a drop of blood from the superior vena cave through every feature of the heart through to the aorta.

37. If an individual has 6 L of blood and their plasma + buffy coat volume is 80% of whole blood, what is the volume,
in mL, of only Erythrocytes?

38. Why might males have higher hematocrit levels than females?

39. How does increased hematocrit lead to increased stamina & performance?

40. Why would infections happen in Leukemia, if leukocytes are part of the immune system and are being
overproduced?
 The Heart

41. Why is it important that the refractor period for myocytes is nearly as long as the contraction period?

42. Why is it important that the AV node delays the pacemaker potential?

43. Why is lack of O2 so dangerous to cardiac cells? What does this interfere with

44. Heart valves are dependent on adequate BP. What neural and hormonal mechanisms can influence BP?

a. How would each affect blood volume, and would that also affect blood pressure?

45. You have decreased blood volume and therefore decreased Stroke Volume. Based on what we know of factors
that influence Stroke Volume, what ONE thing can we maintain Cardiac Output?

a. What systems and there processes have we discussed that would influence this ONE THING?

b. If there is an open wound that does not directly damage a blood vessel, what would be happening at the
site of the wound? Is this process different if there were damage to the endothelium of a small artery?

46. What is the relationship of the direction of blood flow and pressure?

47. Occluding a blood vessel (blocking it completely) via an external tourniquet, stops all blood flow.

a. What happens to the vessels when there is no blood flow/pressure?

b. What happens when we release this tourniquet after one minute when the blood begins flowing rapidly
through the previously occluded vessels?

48. What is the relationship of the direction of blood flow and pressure?

49. Occluding a blood vessel (blocking it completely) via an external tourniquet, stops all blood flow. What happens
to the vessels when there is no blood flow/pressure? What happens when we release this tourniquet after one
minute when the blood begins flowing rapidly through the previously occluded vessels?

Respiratory System

50. Mexico City is 7,500 ft above sea level with PATM of 585 mmHg, calculate the typical partial pressures of Nitrogen,
oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water.

51. Will the elevation difference influence respiration? How? Why or why not?

52. Why does hyperventilating help you hold your breath longer?

53. How does atmospheric concentrations of O2 influence PO2? What about CO2 & PCO2?

54. Have atmospheric concentrations of O2 and CO2 changed over the last century? How have they changed? What
might this mean for partial pressures at sea level? What about at high altitude?

Immune System

55. Which antibodies are most likely responsible for Erythroblastosis fetalis?

56. Give two examples of active and passive immunity.

57. How can a valve from a pig be transplanted into a human and not require anti-rejection drugs?

58. What are the signs of inflammation, what causes each and how does inflammation serve as a protective
function?