Windows
Macintosh
An interactive, menu driven program which simulates experiments on the superior cervical ganglion-nictitating membrane preparation of the cat (in vivo) to teach the pharmacology of ganglionic transmission and sympathetically innervated smooth muscle.
Introduction: provides information about the program and it's curricula context;
Tutorial: presents diagrammatic representations of the effector junction and the superior cervical ganglion. This section of the program uses animated sequences to demonstrate the stages of transmission at both the synapse and neuro-effector junction and highlights possible sites of action of drugs;
Methods: describes the preparation, protocols for nerve stimulation and administration of drugs to the superior cervical ganglion and the nictitating membrane, and the method of recording contractions of the nictitating membrane.
Experiments: allows students to perform simulated experiments on the preparation and provides recordings of the force of contraction of both ipsilateral and contralateral nictitating membranes which are displayed on a screen designed to emulate a chart recorder. A sub-menu gives students some control over experimental parameters (they can choose:
1. to administer an agent from a list: saline (vehicle control), acetylcholine, noradrenaline, atropine, phentolamine, propranolol, isoprenaline, hexamethonium, physostigmine, nicotine (low and high dose), tyramine, an unknown (which is randomly selected from the list above when the program is run);
2. the site of administration;
3. whether to electrically stimulate preganglionic nerves (half-maximal stimulation).
Although it is envisaged that the tutor will develop a set of tasks for students to address when using the simulation which will meet their own teaching objectives, this section does also includes some suggested tasks to aid independent use of the program.
System Requirements: Windows: Intel Pentium II 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent), 128MB of RAM; Microsoft Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Macintosh: PowerPC G3 500MHz or faster processor, 128MB of RAM; Mac OS X v.10.1.x, 10.2.x, 10.3.x, or 10.4.x
Recommended browser software: Windows: Internet Explorer; Macintosh: Safari or Firefox; Both: Adobe Flash Player plug-in, version 8 or higher.
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