Nerve and Muscle Kits

Students record compound action potentials (CAPs) from a cockroach leg nerve in response to various physical stimuli. Students examine CAP amplitudes and frequency, and identify different “classes” of CAP that represent different individual axons.

Students record extracellular action potentials from the ventral nerve cord of a large cockroach, or similar insect. Spontaneous activity, and different types of stimuli, (including tapping the bench, clapping, air puffs, and touching), are compared and analyzed using frequency histograms. Students will also determine the nerve conduction velocity of the ventral nerve.

Obtain extracellular recordings of action potentials from an anesthetized earthworm to examine the threshold potential, the all-or-none response, the refractory period, and the conduction velocity of the nerve.

Students investigate the responses of smooth muscle to neurotransmitters, temperature, and ions. The earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) gut provides a robust smooth muscle preparation that can be mounted in an organ bath and attached to a force transducer. This arrangement will enable students to measure contraction rate and force.

Explore the basic principles of cardiac muscle physiology, including contraction force, electrocardiogram (ECG) and the effect of neurotransmitters on the heart. Students also apply the Frank-Starling law of the heart to explain the relationship between stretch of cardiac muscle and the force of contraction.

Students measure compound action potentials (CAPs) from an isolated frog sciatic nerve to explore the basic physiological properties of nerve impulses, including the threshold, refractory period, and conduction velocity.

Students investigate the relationship between skeletal muscle and motor nerve supply. Using an isolated frog gastrocnemius and sciatic nerve students will explore twitch recruitment, muscle fatigue, and the effects of tubocurarine.

Students will learn about these properties of skeletal muscle: twitch recruitment, effects of muscle stretch, summation, tetanus, and fatigue. The experiment is carried out using an isolated frog gastrocnemius muscle.

In this module students learn how to record and analyze data in Lt. A "Pre-Lab" lesson shows students what to expect in Lt labs and lets them explore the types of signals they might record. They also practice their data analysis skills prior to the lab, where they record and analyze their own pulse.

In this lab, learners will become familiar with administering tactile stimulation to Manduca sexta larvae and pupae. They record and analyze EMG data from a pupal preparation that they have set up themselves.

Students make intracellular recordings from neurons in a leech ganglion. They will become familiar with an intracellular amplifier, and with the use for glass microelectrodes. Students will record and analyze both resting potentials and action potentials, of different neuronal cell types.

Please note, additional electrodes and electrode holders may be needed for this experiment.