1. Physiology
of a Skeletal Muscle Fiber
- Describe the structure of a neuromuscular junction (motor end plate).
- Explain what a neurotransmitter is.
2.
Generating and Maintaining a Resting Membrane
Potential
- Define membrane potential and explain how the resting membrane potential is established and maintained.
- List the ions responsible for the resting membrane potential and their locations while the cell is at rest.
- Explain why a cell’s resting membrane potential is negative.
- Explain how ions move across the cell’s plasma membrane along both their concentration and electrochemical gradients.
- Describe the role of the sodium-potassium pump in the resting membrane potential.
3. Generating
an Action Potential
- Define action potential and identify types of cells that experience action potentials.
- Define ligand-gated ion channel and explain its significance in the generation of an action potential.
- Define voltage-gated ion channel and explain its significance in the propagation of an action potential.
- List the ions responsible for an action potential and the direction of their movement (into/out of the cell).
- List and describe the types of membrane transport that are used during an action potential, beginning with the release of neurotransmitter.
- Sketch a tracing (graph) of an action potential and label the different phases of the tracing.
4. Excitation-Contraction
Coupling
- Explain how muscle fibers are stimulated to contract by describing events that occur at the neuromuscular junction.
- Describe how an action potential is generated.
- Follow the events of excitation-contraction coupling that lead to cross bridge activity.
- Describe the functions of tropomyosin and troponin during excitation-contraction coupling.
- Identify the specific roles that Ca++ and ATP play in the cross-bridge cycle.
