Example Short Answer Questions The following are examples of the type of questions that you may expect

in the short answer section of the exam. Obviously, there could be many variations on the answers, but as long as the key points are covered, you will get full marks. One to two sentences should be sufficient to completely answer each question. Q1 (a) In cardiac muscle, two types of calcium channels are critically important for excitation-contraction coupling. What are they? L-type and ryanodine sensitive calcium channels (voltage-gated and ryanodine sensitive calcium channels would also be acceptable) (b) Activation of 1 adrenergic receptors by the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate and contractile force in the ventricles. However, it also increases the risk of heart attacks, particularly in older people. Why? Increased calcium release can cause the heart to fail in systole. In older people, the SERCA pump needed to pump calcium back into the SR is less efficient. Relevant slides: Cardio 1 slide 39, Cardio 2 slide 15 Explanation: Beta adrenergic stimulation speeds up BOTH entry of calcium via the Ltype calcium channels and the calcium-activated calcium release from the SR via large ryanodine sensitive calcium channels. In the SA node, sodium leakage is increased as well, so heart rate goes up and contractile force is increased (because more calcium is released around the myofilaments). At the end of the AP, SERCA has to take up the excess calcium into the SR, while the Na/Ca exchange pumps push calcium back outside the cell. Beta adrenergic stimulation ALSO activates SERCA, increasing the rate of reuptake of calcium into SR (major effect) AND increases activity of sodium/calcium exchanger (minor effect). Hence, as heart rate increases calcium reuptake also increases. This presents the heart from stopping in systole, which it would do if the calcium removal between beats was not also speeded up. With age, the efficiency of the SERCA pump goes down so that older animals and people cant raise their heart rate as much as when they were young without risking a heart attack, because of excess calcium release from the SR. Therefore, in older people, one of the effective treatments to limit the chance of a heart attack is to administer 1 adrenergic receptor blockers.

Q2 (a) Primitive animals have simple digestive systems (often just plain tubes) within which digestion occurs continuously as food passes down the alimentary canal. In mammals, that is not true. Mammals have segmented digestive systems with different microenvironments in each section. What is the significance of having multiple digestive compartments in mammalian systems? Different sections of the digestive system can have different conditions, optimized for processing of different types of food (b) What advantage do ruminants get by having a four chambered stomach, as opposed to the single chambered stomach found in most mammals? Ruminants are the dominant type of herbivore. Because their food is rich in cellulose, which cant be digested by mammalian digestive enzymes, ruminants first expose their food to microbes which are able to digest cellulose, in the rumen (the first chamber of the ruminant stomach) and then swallow it down for processing in the rest of the digestive system. Q3 (a) When an action potential arrives at the neuromuscular junction in a skeletal muscle, calcium release has to occur at three different locations sites in order for the action potential to trigger muscle contraction. What are those three sites? What does calcium do at each site? 1. In the presynaptic terminal of the neuromuscular junction, to trigger acetyl choline release. 2. From the membrane of the T-tubes, in response to the muscle action potential, to trigger intracellular calcium release. 3. From the ryanodine-sensitive calcium channels in the sarcoplasmic reticulum, allowing calcium to bind to troponin and expose the myosin binding sites on the actin filaments which initiates contraction. Q4 (a) Surgery to remove the pituitary gland (hypophysectomy) in cases of an aggressive pituitary tumor results in loss of control over the secretion of many circulating hormones, including the reproductive hormones, thyroid hormone, glucocorticoids and the adrenal androgens. Which pituitary hormones are normally responsible for controlling the glands that produce these hormones? LH and FSH control the reproductive system, TSH controls the thyroid and ACTH controls the adrenal cortex.

(b) Why are only some functions of the adrenal affected by hypophysectomy? Why is adrenal secretion of epinephrine and aldosterone relatively unaffected? Epinephrine is secreted by the adrenal medulla, which is directly controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. Aldosterone is secreted by the glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex, which is under control by the renin-angiotensin system, not ACTH. Q5 (a) When an action potential reaches the axon terminal, why doesnt it bounce straight back up the axon to the neuronal cell body again? After the action potential has passed, the sodium channels close completely and the neuronal membrane hyperpolarizes because potassium channels are opened, making it impossible for current spread to initiate a second depolarization in the section of the membrane over which an action potential has just passed. (b) What is it about voltage-gated sodium channels that allows them to open when the membrane potential falls to less than about -55mV, only to close again when the potential shits to positive at about +35mV? Voltage gated sodium channels have two gates. One, on the outside of the plasma membrane, opens as the membrane potential becomes less negative. The other, on the inside of the plasma membrane closes as soon as the inside of the cell becomes positively charged, because of the influx of sodium ions. Q6 (a) In a person who is normally hydrated, the glomerular filtrate coming out of the proximal convoluted tubule of the kidney and entering the loop of Henle has almost exactly the same osmotic strength as the fluid leaving the distal convoluted tubules after it has passed through the loop of Henle. So how does the loop of Henle contribute to concentrating the urine? The loop of Henle maintains a concentration gradient in the renal medulla, through which the urine in the collecting ducts must pass. Because the collecting ducts are permeable to water, water is drawn out by osmosis as the urine passes through on its way to the ureters and bladder. (b) What is the main difference observed in the kidneys of animals living in desert conditions that allows them to minimize water loss in the urine? By having long loops of Henle, projecting deep into the renal medulla, they can maintain a very high concentration gradient in the kidney which allows them to remove more water from the urine in the collecting ducts than is possible in mammals that live where water is more plentiful.