Study Questions

(Neurochemistry, Transmitters and receptors, and Learning and Memory)

 

 

  1. What are the criteria for the identification of a neurotransmitter?
  2. What kind of ACh receptors does the heart muscle use?  Based on what you learned in the course, could you suggest at least two mechanisms by which ACh slows heartbeat?
  3. What are the differences between clear-core and dense-core vesicles?
  4. If you use vesamicol to block the nerve terminal, what would happen to synaptic transmission?
  5. What would Sarin do the cholinergic synapse?  Why? 
  6. What is the key difference in the life cycle of ACh vs the rest of transmitters?
  7. What are so special about catecholamines? Where are they located in the brain?
  8. Why is L-DOPA used to treat Parkinson patients?
  9. What would cocaine do to your brain?
  10. Why is LSD considered a ‘psychedelic’ (mind-manifesting) drug? 
  11. A single trip with Ecstasy would deplete nearly 80% of 5-HT in the nerve terminal.  Why is the positive feeling dramatically diminished on the second trip?
  12. What is the consequence of long-term abuse of Ecstasy?
  13. What does Prozac do?
  14. What are ionotropic receptors? What are metabotropic receptors?  How do they differ from each other?
  15. What are nicotinic receptors? What are muscarinic receptors? How do they differ from each other?
  16. How many subunits are needed to form a functional ionotropic receptor?
  17. What are major differences between NMDA and AMPA receptors?
  18. What is Magnesium block in NMDA receptors? How would the cell ‘kick’ out Mg2+?
  19. What is Myasthenia Gavis?  What is its cause?  What are the synaptic physiological phenotypes in MG patients?
  20. What are the two simplest forms of learning?
  21. What is associative learning?
  22. What did Pavlov do to his dog during learning and memory training?
  23. What are short-term facilitation, depression, and post-tetanic potentiation? 
  24. Why Eric Kandel decided to use a simpler animal (e.g. the sea snail Aplysia Californica) for studies of learning and memory?
  25. What are the behavioral responses in habituation? And sensitilzation?
  26. What are their corresponding cellular changes?
  27. Describe the synaptic events leading to habituation, sensitization, facilitation resulting from classical conditioning in Aplysia?
  28. What is the role of 5-HT in learning and memory in Aplysia?
  29. What is monosynaptic depression? What is heterosynaptic facilitation?
  30. Why is heterosynaptic facilitation activity-dependent?
  31. What is the second messenger involved in learning and memory in Aplysia?
  32. What are required for long-term memory formation?
  33. What is CREB? What does it do in learning and memory?
  34. What is the advantage of using Drosophila to study learning and memory?
  35. What is rutabaga?  What is dunce?  How do they affect learning and memory in flies?
  36. What is hippocampus?  Why is it considered important for learning and memory?
  37. What is LTP? LTD?
  38. Why is a synapse considered ‘silent’?  How to make it ‘loud’?
  39. What are the molecular mechanisms underlying LTP?
  40. What else may occur to a neuron when LTP is formed?
  41. How would one enhance the capability of learning and memory?
  42. What are common features of learning and memory between vertebrates and invertebrates? What are the differences?