Physiology 31 Lab Exam #3 Study Recommendations
Lab exam #3 will consist of questions to assess your understanding of information from Labs
16B (skeletal muscle), 29 A & B (blood), 31 (electrocardiography), 33A (blood pressure &
pulse), and Labs 34B (frog cardiology). The exam will be mainly fill-ins and short answer
questions, with a few matching multiple choice questions. Be sure to refer to the lab manual
explanations in each lab and the Review Sheets assigned for homework as you prepare for the
exam. A review of the lecture notes that pertain to these exercises would be helpful. Also, be
able to apply the information learned to real life situations.
Lab 16B – Skeletal Muscle Physiology
- What is a motor unit?
- Know what is meant by recruitment (motor unit summation)
- What are the 3 phases of a muscle twitch? What occurs inside the muscle cell during each
phase?
- What are the two main ways that muscle contractile strength can be increased?
- What occurs during treppe, incomplete tetanus, and complete tetanus?
- How is sarcomere length related to muscle contractile strength?
- Why does muscle eventually fatigue after prolonged contraction?
- What is meant by isometric and isotonic muscle contraction?
Labs 29A & B – Blood
- What is blood composed of? What does plasma contain?
- Be able to identify the different types of blood cells under the microscope, the function of each
type, and their relative percentages in whole blood.
- What is the main function of RBCs? What protein allows them to perform their function?
- How are basic blood typing tests conducted? Be able to interpret blood type test results.
- What is measured in a hematocrit test? What are normal hematocrit levels for men and
women? What conditions are indicated by too high or too low hematocrit levels?
- How is a differential WBC count conducted? What are the normal percentages for the different
types of WBCs? What can be determined if a particular WBC type is not within normal range?
- What are normal hemoglobin levels in men and women? What do abnormal levels indicate?
- What is considered to be a healthy cholesterol level? Why types of problems can occur with
high or low cholesterol levels?
Lab 31 – Electrocardiography
- Describe the components of the electrical conduction system of the heart.
- Be able to label the major waves, segments, and intervals of an electrocardiogram and explain
what each of these indicates in terms of the electrical conduction system of the heart.
- Be able to calculate heart rate from an ECG.
- In what ways did the ECG change during lying down, sitting, and exercising?
- Be able to interpret an abnormal ECG. (It would be helpful to review the abnormal ECGs
shown in the textbook chapter on the heart.)
- What is Einthoven’s triangle? Why were 3 leads used to obtain the ECG?
- Explain the different types of abnormal rhythms of the heart.
Lab 33A – Blood Pressure & Pulse Determinations
- What are the ausculatory areas for each of the 4 heart valves?
- Where are the main body regions for palpating superficial pulse points? What is an average
pulse rate?
- What is pulse pressure, and how is it calculated? What is a normal pulse pressure? What does
a high or low pulse pressure indicate?
- What two instruments did we use to measure blood pressure? What is considered a normal BP
range? What can occur if someone has BP lower or higher than normal?
- What are the two main factors that affect blood pressure?
- How did sitting, reclining, standing, and exercising affect the subject’s pulse and blood
pressure?
- When measuring blood pressure, how did you distinguish the systolic and diastolic pressures?
- What are the sounds of Korotkoff?
- From what artery is blood pressure measured?
- What causes the systolic and diastolic blood pressures?
- What is Mean Arterial Pressure, and how is it calculated?
- As per the Harvard Step Test activity, be able to calculate a person’s index of physical fitness
when given the person’s duration of exercise in seconds and the sum of his/her three pulse
counts during recovery.
Lab 34B – Frog Cardiology
- How does vagus nerve stimulation affect the frog’s heart rate? Under what conditions does
vagus nerve stimulation occur in human bodies?
- What is Ringer’s solution, and why was it placed on the frog heart between each new solution?
- How does pilocarpine affect frog heart rate?
- How does atropine affect frog heart rate? What is atropine’s mechanism of action?
- How does epinephrine affect frog heart rate? Under what conditions would epinephrine be
released in a human body?
- How does digitalis affect frog heart rate? How does digitalis work?
- How did increasing the external concentrations of calcium, sodium, and potassium affect frog
heart rate? Explain their effects on the heart.