Examining Motor and Sensory Units as an Educational Model for Understanding the Impact of Localized Tissue Injury on Healthy Cells

 

Robin L. Cooper, Ashwatha Thenappan, & Esther E. Dupont-Versteegden

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2019, Volume 40

Abstract

This series of laboratory modules uses common neurophysiological teaching exercises which are modified to provide a focus on a medical related physiological topic. The scenario is theoretically related to what could be encountered with traumatic skeletal muscle injury. The testable hypothesis is that skeletal muscle injury raises extracellular K+ concentration, and other constituents due to the lysing of the injured cells, which impacts healthy muscle, sensory and motor neurons in the vicinity. The primary sensory neurons of the crayfish muscle receptor organ (MRO) and neuromuscular preparations of the crayfish are used as models to address this topic. The change in the neural activity of the MRO, the resting membrane potential of skeletal muscle and evoked synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction are used as indices to assess the effect of raised extracellular K+ and exposure to homogenized muscle tissue.

Keywords:  physiology, electrophysiology, CURE, neuromuscular junction, neurobiology, cell injury

The Ohio State University (2018)