Acid/Base Lab: Question 1 part D

There isn't really one resource to find the answer, you just have to figure it out on your own. If you answer the hint questions below, you should be able to figure it out:

How does insulin work? What happens to blood glucose levels when you inject insulin?

Note that the problem states a "big" shot of insulin. If you give too much insulin what would happen to the blood glucose? And finally, what vital organ is extremely dependent on blood glucose?

Acid/base homework questions clarification

Hello again!

Here are the homework questions with a little more detail so they won't be so vague. This is just to help you understand the questions, please refer to the original blue sheet when writing up your answers.

For each patient you have four questions that you need to answer:

A. What is his/her exact acid-base diagnosis?

The answer for this is the first diagnosis you found. You need to answer with only two words: respiratory or metabolic acidosis or alkalosis.

B. How did his/her medical diagnoses lead to the acid-base disturbance? (Or a variation of this question) For this question you need to state the medical diagnosis (the second one you found in lab). For example, this would be diabetes mellitus, pulmonary edema, etc. Then you need to explain IN DETAIL exactly how this medical condition caused the acid/base imbalance stated in question A above. BE AS DETAILED AS POSSIBLE.

For 1B, make sure you tell me exactly how the little girl's medical condition resulted in the acid/base imbalance you stated in question 1A. Tell me exactly which acid was causing the trouble, where it came from, and why it was building up in her system.

For 2B, tell me exactly how the acid/base disturbance came about because of his medical condition. 

For 3B, make sure you tell me how his medical condition led to his acid/base balance. You may want to look up the uses of the drug involved, but all the info you need is already in your lab book.

For 4B, make sure you tell me the source of each acid (there is more than one) involved and why her medical condition caused a change in each type of acid. Again, any information about the drugs involved is in your lab book.

C. Is he/she compensating? How do you know? (Use symptoms, not the graph)

For this question, you need to go back to look at the symptoms presented by the patient in the beginning of the exercise. State what the compensating mechanism should be (respiratory or metabolic acidosis or alkalosis) and what observable symptom the patient has that is producing the compensatory mechanism.

Don't forget part D on question number 1!

Email me if you still need clarification about the questions, or you need help to answer them. These are due in 2 weeks.

No lab next week! Happy Thanksgiving! 

More frog heart

See diagram in Silverthorn, page 500 for question 1. This will help explain effects on heart rate.


Use external resources for the caffeine question. I'm not going to be too strict on this part since it seems Dr. Rechs didn't cover this in lecture. Basically caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, thus enhancing the activity of NorEp. Use this as a starting point.

Frog heart question #2

For the dark purple heart, I'll give you some hints.

1. What specifically makes blood change color (any type of blood, not just frog blood).

2. What was happening to the heart at the time which would result in the blood color change? Remember that the oxygen consumption of the frog's body does not change during the experiment.

Frog heart question #1

Question number 1:


I want you to mention something about hyperpolarization/depolarization of the cell membrane and the ease of achieving an action potential. 


You also need to explain exactly what is happening in the muscle of the heart itself (why you get increased or decreased contractility, etc).

Skeletal Muscle graph

For your graph, use your data from page 60 of your lab manual.

Skeletal Muscle graph

Here is an example of what your graph could look like: 

(These numbers are completely made up, yours will look different!)

Other formats are acceptable as well. To make the one above, I used "XY Scatter" in Excel. Try playing around with Excel and if you can't figure it out, shoot me an email. Hand drawing a graph on graph paper is also acceptable.

Remember to label the X and Y axis and to put units!

RESPONSE TO COMMENT 3/6/2012

What you are trying to find on this graph is optimum length of the muscle, not threshold. Look at your stimulus voltage to see how many motor units are being recruited. 


If you still have questions, send me an email! I'll be on my computer all day...
-Chrisoula

Hello everyone, Just want to give you a heads up that this week's lab is VERY long. Please carefully read your lab book prior to class so things go as smoothly as possible. Otherwise, you may not be able to complete the lab in the time alloted. Thanks! See you tomorrow. Chrisoula

Lab 3 question #1

Use page 42 of your lab book as a guide. This will help you find the pathway in the right amount of detail.