Homeostasis: active and passive factors. Water and solute transport. Elettrochemical equilibrium. Bioelectrical potentials. Propagation and transmission of the information in the nervous system. Signal transduction in the sense receptors. Muscle contraction and cell motility. The mechanisms of visceral functions (gas and solutes exchanges).
Taglietti, Casella: Fisiologia e biofisica delle cellule, EdiSES
Randall et al.: Eckert, Fisiologia animale IV ed.), Zanichelli
Aidley: The Physiology of excitable cells, (IV ed). Cambridge University Press
D’Angelo – Peres: Fisiologia, Edi Ermes
Nicholls et al.: From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates
Learning Objectives
Knolewdge acquired:
Mechanisms of functioning of the animals at cell, tissue and organ levels.
Competence acquired
Understanding of the relation between structure and function at the different levels of organization of the living matter. Understanding
the role of the external milieu and of passive and active parameters implied in cell and tissue homeostasis.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
To analyse and understand the relation between the relevant parameters relevant for a biological function, using graphic representations. To understand the concepts reported in the textbooks of general physiology and the progress of knowledge in the field.
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)
Courses required: Mathematics, Physics, General and inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry
Courses recommended: Citology and Hystology, Biochemistry, Comparative Anatomy
Teaching Methods
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 225
Hours reserved to private study and other indivual formative activities:147
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 64
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 12
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours):
Seminars (hours): 0
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 2
Further information
Attendance at lectures: strongly requested and essential for a fruitful attendance at laboratory
Attendance at laboratory: compulsory
Teaching tools:
Model simulations. Video on techniques in General Physiology.
Office hours:
Friday, 15-17, upon phone call or email message.
Email: gabriella.piazzesi@unifi.it
Type of Assessment
The final examination is intended to ensure the acquisition of knowledge and skills (i.e. the acquisition of learning outcomes) by conducting a written test lasting 2 hours without the aid of notes or books. The written test consists in questions with multiple answers, exercises, about problems faced in class, and in describing and interpretating experiments using graphical representations of the results. The oral examination consists of the discussion of the written test and questions on parts of the programme carried out in class. Purpose of this analytic graduation of the student performance is to reliably assess the degree of achievement of the learning outcomes outlined above.
Course program
Course Contents (detailed programme): CELL OMEOSTASIS, TRANSPORT MECHANISMS AND IONIC EQUILIBRIUM
Structure of cell membrane. Concept of cell membrane in physiology. Omeostasys: passive and active mechanisms. Transmembrane transport of water and solutes. Osmolarity and tonicity. The time constant in diffusion processes. Mediate transports. Ionic channels, carriers, pumps. Types of active transport. Transepithelial transport. Energy balance. Gas diffusion through the respiratory epithelia. Absorption and secretion in the digestive system.
Electrochemical equilibrium and bioelectric potentials. Equilibrium potential. Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium. Multi-ionic membrane potentials. Na+-K+ pump. Electric model of the membrane.
MECHANISMS OF SOMATIC FUNCTIONS
Electric and chemical signals. Animal electricity. Excitability, threshold. Recording of electrical activity of nerve cells. The mechanism of the action potential. Characteristics of voltage- dependent ion channels. Propagation and transmission of nerve impulse. Electric and chemical synapses. Gap junctions. The neuromuscular junction: neurotransmitter mechanism. Ca++ and exocytosis of the neurotransmitter. Synapses between neurons. Synaptic integration in spinal motoneurons. Direct and indirect chemical synapses. Ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. Neuromodulation. Sensory receptors. The receptor potential and the transduction mechanism. Relation between the intensity of the stimulus and receptor response. Adaptation. Amplitude and frequency codification of the response. Neural control of the receptor response.
Cell motility and muscle contraction. Structure-function relation in skeletal muscle. Muscle proteins. Sliding filament theory. Mechanics and energetic of the contraction. Heath and work production. Power and efficiency. Chemo-mechanical coupling. The action of the molecular motor protein myosin II. Excitation-contraction coupling.
MECHANISMS OF VISCERAL FUNCTIONS.
The heart and the circulatory system. Structure-function of the heart in vertebrates. Cardiac action potential. Relation between electrical and mechanical cycle in the heart activity. Neural control. Microcirculation. Exchange of gasses and solutes in tissues.
INTEGRATED SYSTEMS OF REGULATION AND CONTROL.
Negative and positive feedback. Integrated functions. The control of blood pressure.