Reference no: EM133516923

Assignment:

Bushmaster Deadward has found some particularly delicious looking bush mushrooms. Thinking they know all about mushroom safety, they promptly set up their camp stove and cooked and ate a mushroom omelette. Shortly afterwards, they begin to feel body numbness, blurred vision, and lack of coordination. An unknown toxin from the mushroom is affecting their action potentials (AP)!

Using your knowledge of action potentials from class, please answer in your own words the following questions. Be sure to clearly label the different parts.

Part A. Describe the processes that normally take place during the AP refractory period and explain what happens to the channels involved.

Part B. If the toxin has impaired the opening of their potassium channels, how might this affect the refractory period?

Part C. What do you predict would happen if the toxin also caused the voltage-gated sodium channels to stay open longer? Explain your reasoning.

Hourase is a 19-year-old University student who normally gets very good marks, but recently they've had real trouble remembering and have failed their exams. An MRI brain scan revealed that an unknown virus has infected their hippocampus.

Using your knowledge of synaptic transmission from class, please answer in your own words the following questions. Be sure to clearly label the different parts.

Part A. Describe the processes involved in synaptic transmission, and identify the structures involved.

Part B. The virus has reduced the number of hippocampal AMPA receptors, so the doctors treat with an excitatory neuromodulator. Describe how the neuromodulator works and how you think it would affect their ability to remember. Explain why this would happen.