Biology 141 Exam 2

Study Guide

Physiology Lecture Exam #2

Spring 2015

This exam is going to be a bit different from those in the past. Some of you will probably like this, while others will not. The bottom line is, though, that you are prepared for it, so pay attention to the following:

* You will be given six essay questions, and you will need to answer five for a grade. You may outline the sixth for extra credit. The answer for each should be about one page in length, although that varies greatly with handwriting size and style. You should devote about 12-15 minutes to each essay.

* Here are the essay topics with approximate text pages and main topics to be covered. Graphs or images may be part of the questions:

1. Muscle contraction, pages 285-292: action potential, neuromuscular junction, involvement of calcium and acetylcholine (excitation-contraction coupling), cross bridge cycle.

2. Graph of skeletal muscle contractions, pages 294-297 and handout last week: muscle twitch, graded responses, incomplete tetanus, complete tetanus, isotonic and isometric contractions.

3. Nervous system action potential, pages 397-404: graph, leak and gated channels, all or none, resting potential, depolarization, repolarization, hyperpolarization.

4. Excitatory and inhibitory synapses, pages 411-414: post-synaptic potentials, graphs, neurotransmitters, spatial and temporal summation, one example each of an excitatory and inhibitory substance from Table 11.3 (pp. 415-416).

5. Brain organization and control, pages 431-437: sensory and motor map of cerebral cortex; motor, sensory and association neurons of cerebrum, contralateral control, gray and white matter.

6. Reflex actions, pages 513-518: components of all reflex arcs, the specifics of one of the following reflex arcs of your choosing: stretch/patellar, tendon, flexor, crossed-extenso