Introduction:
The experiment is about measuring the capacity of neurons in given factors using the cockroaches’ leg.
Neurons are very important in a living cell. It gives power to all parts of the system. It transmit signal to every inch of a muscle up to the other end organs. It comes in various sizes, but basically they have the same function in almost all cells. The main structures of the neuron are composed of cell body, which has the metabolic function; the dendrites that usually receives the signal from other neurons; and lastly the axon that sends signal to the other neurons in a form of synapses. Normally the information on every cell is transmitted by neurons. This neuron will work via chemical and electrical signals. Once the message contain in a cell body, it will typically screen out the message whether to be passed on to other end or not. The axon will receives the final message and again transfer those information to the other neuron by synapses.
Basically, the animal nervous system is divided into two groups- the central nervous system (CNS), which has the spinal cord and the brain that responsible for the integration of the system. Second is the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that has the nerve and some neurons that do not lie in the CNS, which also functions as a conveyor of the information. These neurons comes in a different branches such as sensory neurons that identifies the external and internal conditions and then transfer it to the brain. The interneurons will then integrate those information and then transfer to the motor neurons.
neurons will allow the motor output to leave the ganglia and then to muscles for action. The membrane potential is the bridge of all the information. It is usually considers the voltage of the animal membrane. However, if the neuron is not sending any information, the membrane potential is then in resting state. But if the neuron is busy sending information, the action state is then on action potential. There are series of stages that turns the condition state to resting potential and to action potential. The factors affecting these conditions will depend on the activity of various ions on each channel. When some instances the sodium gate is closed, then normally the potassium gate will open, the circulation of the cell takes place and so on.
In the experiment, the cockroach leg is exposed into several environments to test different factors affecting the neural activity of the system. The first scene is to compare the neural activity of the leg if it is bended or straighten in a room temperature. The second scene is exposed to the cold condition by refrigerating the leg in a few minutes in a refrigerator and then again compared with the first scene. The third scene is exposed on the petroleum jelly, which represents the absence of the oxygen. Then observe the condition of the cockroach leg and compared it to other mediums. In the experiment, it shows that the cockroaches’ leg is in peak height if bended in a room temperature, exposed in cold condition by refrigeration, and deprivation of oxygen by exposing the leg on a petroleum jelly.
Materials and Methods:
The materials for the experiments are the following: cockroach leg, spikerbox, computer, ice bath, refrigerator, petroleum jelly, dissecting kit, and gloves.
The first scene involves a computer, literally surf in the backyard brains and do their set ups. The first step is get a live cockroach and bath on the cold water to immobilize the insect. Then carefully cut the leg out from the cockroach body and pin the leg on the cork inside the spikerbox. Make sure the electrode pin is in the femur and tibia for accurate result. Turn the spikerbox on, observe the scene and records them. Repeat the process but make the cockroach leg straighten, observe the scene and again records them. In the second scene using the same cockroach leg, refrigerate the leg in a few minutes. Then again, place the cockroach leg in the spikerbox. Pin with electrodes on tibia and femur and note your observation. Remove the pins to straighten the leg, and pin again to record the neuron activity while on cold state. Then make a record of observation and note if there are any changes in the activity. In the third scene, coat the cockroach leg with petroleum jelly to block the oxygen coming in the leg. Place in the spikerbox, pin them with electrodes, and again note the observation. Repeat the steps but change the cockroach leg to straight position and record the observation. Once done, clean the apparatus and carefully dispose the cockroach leg in the trashed can.
Discussions:
The first scene shows that the neural activity of a cockroach leg when bended in a room temperature is less compared with the straighten one because of the shorter spikes sound. Then the hypothesis is falsified by the data because the straighten leg is in higher neural activity than of the bent one.
In the second scene, the cockroach leg expose on the cold state, the neural activity is still present however; it shows a little progress. The bended leg shows low amplitude than of the straighten one. Therefore, the hypothesis is falsified by the data. The last scene is when the cockroach leg is expose on the petroleum jelly, there is no neural activity going on because of the absence of oxygen, which primarily needed in generation of ATP. Therefore, the hypothesis is also falsified.
Works Cited
Boree, George. webspace. 2009. 12 March 2016 <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/theneuron.html>.
