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Carrie Heath
Questions for the Test
1. What are the glial cells of the CNS and what are their functions? If you had to live
without a particular type of glial cell, which would you pick and why?
2. What is the difference between an extracellular recording of a neuron and an
intracellular recording? Give an example of how an extracellular recording could be
conducted.
3. What is the function of the basal ganglia and what three nuclei constitute the basal
ganglia?
4. Who invented the voltage clamp and who used it for further investigation into the
movement of ions across the cell membrane?
5. What is the function of the cerebellum and the function of the cerebral cortex? How
could one gather information about their functions if they were unknown?
6. Write out the Nernst Equation and the Goldmann Equation. For what reason would
you use each one?
7. What experiment could be done to determine that the cell membrane of a neuron is
most permeable to Potassium?
8. What experiment could you do to test the effect Sodium has on the amplitudes of
peaks of action potentials? What would you find from this experiment?
9. What did Hodgekin and Huxley find when they used the voltage clamp initially?
What experiment did they do to show that it was Sodium causing the inward flow of
charge?
10. What two factors influence the length constant as it relates to the cable properties of
the passive flow of current along the axon?
11. Explain decremental conduction and define the length constant and the time constant.
12. What are the advantages for using the squid giant neuron for experiments rather than
using mammalian neurons?
13. What structures make up the blood brain barrier and what is its function?
14. What are the three input vessels and the three output vessels to the Circle of Willis?
Why is this considered a defense mechanism?
15. When a neuron receives a stimulus that surpasses threshold, what allows the action
potential to continue to be propagated down to the end of the axon? How is this nondecremental conduction different from decremental conduction in relation to how the
current flows along the axon?
16. Explain the functions of Tetradotoxin and Tetraethylammonium. What would happen
if each were separately used on the axon? What would happen if both of these
chemicals were used on the axon and the neuron was subjected to a stimulus that
surpassed threshold?
17. What is the importance of myelin surrounding axons and how does it relate to the
length constant? How is myelin thought to be related to Multiple Sclerosis?
18. Who are the two men that invented the patch clamp technique? What are the
advantages of this particular technique, and describe the four different types of
recordings that can be done?
19. What is the difference between a ligand-gated ion channel and a voltage-gated ion
channel? What is the most important type of ligand-gated ion channel?
20. What types of diseases are commonly caused by alterations in ion channel proteins?