Course teached as: B015448 - FISIOLOGIA 3-years First Cycle Degree (DM 270/04) in NATURAL SCIENCES
Teaching Language
Italian
Course Content
Cellular membranes and transmembrane transport of solutes and water. Ionic equilibria and bioelectric potentials. Cell communication and signalling. Coding and information transfer systems: excitable cells (resting membrane potential, action potential, signal conduction and transmission). Nerve impulse generation in the sense organs. Muscle contraction.
Randall et al. Eckert animal physiology: mechanisms and adaptations V Ed Freeman and Company
D’Angelo – Peres Fisiologia: molecole, cellule e sistemi. Edi Ermes
The Physiology of excitable cells, (IV ed) Cambridge University Press
Nicholls et al. From neuron to brain. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publ. V edition
Learning Objectives
Knolewdge acquired: Base functions of animals at cell, subcell and tissue levels
Competence acquired Estimate of structure-function relation at different complexity levels, from molecule to cell and tissue.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Analysis and interpretation of experimental results by means of graphical representations. Understanding textbooks about general, integrative and comparative physiology and the progress of knowledge in the field.
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)
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: 153
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 72
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 0
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 0
Seminars (hours): 0
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 0
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab:
Strongly recommended
Teaching tools
Pdf files with the slides shown during the lectures. Didactic movies.
Office hours:
Friday, 15:30-17:30, upon phone call or e-mail
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 performing 2 exercises, about problems faced in class, and in describing and interpretating 2 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
Fundamental concepts in Physiology: structure-function relationship, homeostasis and plasticity. Cell membrane as a selective barrier. Passive exchanges of water and solutes (simple diffusion, osmosis, membrane channels, facilitated diffusion) and active transports (primary and secondary) through membrane. Transepithelial transport. Cell volume regulation. Ion distribution and bioelectric potentials. Coding systems in the excitable cells. Rest membrane potential, action potential, electrotonic potentials and their ionic nature. Systems for information transfer: signal conduction and transmission. Electric synapses and chemical synapses. Synaptic integration. Ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. Generation of nerve impulses in sense organs. Sense receptors. Stimulus transduction mechanisms. Muscle contraction. Mechanical properties of skeletal muscle. Excitation-contraction coupling and regulation in striated muscle.