HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY

Integrated educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

M4019

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2021/2022

Degree:

Course of Single Cycle Degree 6 years in MEDICINE AND SURGERY

Moduls:

NEUROPHYSIOLOGY - 3 credits
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - 3 credits
TRAINING IN HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - 3 credits
PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOPHYSICS - 3 credits

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

187

Prerequisites:

Passing the exams of Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Histology, Anatomy and Biochemistry is a prerequisite considered essential and preparatory to face the study of Physiology.

Objectives

The objectives are represented by the acquisition of knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the functioning of the nervous system and the principles by which the nervous system controls the homeostasis of the organism and interactions with the external environment.

In particular, the Human Physiology course aims to lead the student to be able to critically analyze the development of physiology starting from the experimental method. Through the knowledge of methodological approaches ranging from electrophysiology to the most common methods and measures typical of cell physiology and human neurophysiology laboratories, also experimented in internships, the student will make his/her own the processes underlying sensitivity and perception, as well as those of management of motor control and higher functions. This will also be possible thanks to the knowledge of the biophysical properties of excitable membranes and of the processes that characterize them, and to the ability to relate the functional stimulus to the response mechanisms in skeletal muscle tissue.
The specific objectives aim to complete the indispensable basic notions allowing the maturation of the ability to interpret the knowledge acquired and, with elective insights of more specifically clinical interest, provide the basis for subsequent courses in pathology and of a clinical nature.

Contents

1-PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOPHYSICS (3 ECTS ) 2nd semester (Prof. C. Paolini)
Biophysics of excitable membranes. Synaptic transmission. Muscle tissue physiology: skeletal muscle and smooth muscle.

2- NEUROPHYSIOLOGY (3 ECTS) 2nd semester (Prof. M.A. Mariggiò)

Nervous system and its components. Somatic sensitivity: central and peripheral mechanisms; tactile-pressure sensitivity; pain sensitivity; thermal sensitivity; proprioceptive sensitivity. Specific sense organs: chemical senses; acoustic sensitivity; visual sensitivity. Description of the processes underlying motility control: from reflexes to voluntary movement.

3-HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY (3 ECTS) 2nd semester (Prof. C. Di Giulio )

The concept of homeostasis and adaptive control. Blood brain barrier. Arches, Paleo and Neocortex. Hypothalamus. Limbic system. The integrative functions of the nervous system: higher functions; language; memory and learning. Sleep and dreams.

4. TRAINING OF BIOPHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY (3 ECTS) 2nd semester (Prof.. A. Mazzatenta)

Electrophysiology. Objective Diagnostics. Objective Olfactory Diagnostics. Exercises

Extended Syllabus

Detailed extended program

PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOPHYSICS (M4019D)

1- Biophysics of excitable membranes. Ionic channels: classification, molecular structure, gating mechanisms. Membrane potentials: ionic balance and passive properties of the membrane. Rest potential: genesis, potassium and sodium permeability of the resting membrane, sodium-potassium pump. Graduated potentials: ionic bases, physical properties, exciters and inhibitors, spatial and temporal summation. Action potential: ionic bases of the depolarization and repolarization phases, the refractory periods. Potential conduction: electrotonic, by local loop, skipping. Differences between potential graduates and action potentials: genesis, stimulus decoding, conduction
2- Synaptic transmission. General features, electric synapses, chemical synapses and their classification. Mechanism of action of chemical synapses: role of Ca2 + and specific proteins in the process of exocytosis. Neurotransmitters: classification and function. Synaptic receptors and postsynaptic potentials: transduction mechanism. Synaptic activity: occlusion and facilitation, synaptic decrease, retrograde information, synaptic plasticity. Neuro-muscular synapses: release of acetylcholine in the synaptic fissure, diffusion, inactivation by acetylcholinesterase, synaptic binding, choline reuptake. Curare action on muscle receptors. Ionic selectivity of the muscular nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: plaque potential, Na/K ion permeability.
3- Physiology of muscle tissue.
Skeletal muscle. The structural and functional bases of contraction: sarcolemma, T-tubule, sarcoplasmic reticulum and related ion channels, sarcomere. Mechanisms of the excitation-contraction coupling process. Skeletal muscle contraction: role of Ca2 + and ATP, bridges formation-breaking cycle. Voltage-length curve in the sarcomere. Simple shock, incomplete and complete tetanus. Types of muscle fibers: classification and functional metabolic characteristics. Motor units: classification, functional properties and recruitment. Types of contraction: isometric, isotonic, concentric and eccentric. Load-speed and force-speed curve, visco-elastic components and contractile components. Energy sources of muscular work, the laws of thermodynamics and efficiency, aerobic and anaerobic work, Oxygen debt. Muscular fatigue. Regenerative capacity of muscle tissue: satellite cells.
Smooth muscle: morphological and functional characteristics and differences with skeletal muscle. Regulatory mechanisms of intracellular Ca2+. Contraction in smooth muscle. Cycle of the cross bridges. Speed and duration of contraction. Force-velocity and tension-length relationship in smooth muscle.

NEUROPHYSIOLOGY (M4019A)

1- The nervous system and its components. General characteristics and functional organization of the nervous system: somatic and visceral, central and peripheral systems. Central organization of the nervous system: functional anatomy of the brain, medulla oblongata and spinal cord.
2- Somatic sensitivity. Peripheral mechanisms: sensory receptors (classification and functional properties), stimulus decoding, propagation of sensory information along nerves, ganglia and dorsal neurons. Central mechanisms of sensitivity: role of the thalamus, cortical somatotopic representation, sensation and perception, laws of sensitivity. Sensitivity classification.
Tactile-pressure sensitivity: sensory receptors, central integration of information, tactile acuity.
Pain sensitivity: classification, nociceptive pain (somatic and visceral), neuropathic (peripheral and central); peripheral and central control of pain.
Thermal sensitivity: peripheral tonic and phasic receptors, central receptors, role of the hypothalamus.
Proprioceptive sensitivity: from the receptors to the perception of the body image.
3- Specific sense organs. The chemical senses: taste and smell, receptors, sensory transduction, conduction pathways, central integration.
Acoustic sensitivity: organization of the auditory system, organ of Corti, physical characteristics of sound, discrimination of sounds, auditory pathways. Vestibular apparatus: structure, sensory receptors and functional mechanisms.
Visual sensitivity: principles of physiological optics, the lens system and physiological control, image formation on the retina. Cones and rods: retinal and subretinal organization, signal transduction, retinal receptive fields, photopic and scotopic vision, visual adaptations, visual information conduction, visual cortex.
4- Motor Control. Movement organization: reflex movement, rhythmic movement, voluntary movements.
Spinal reflexes: tonic and phasic stretch reflex, flexion reflex, cross extension reflex. Spinal integration and superior reflex control.
Voluntary movement: primary, supplementary and premotor motor areas of the cerebral cortex; motor programs. Nuclei of the base: circuit of the putamen and circuit of the pallidus, role of the substanzia nigra.
The cerebellum: functional anatomy, cerebellar control of voluntary movement, motor automatisms.
Rhythmic movement: walking. Posture control: muscle tone, proprioceptive reflexes, statotonic and state kinetic reflexes, vestibular influences, eye movements associated with gravity control and movement (nystagmus).

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY (M4019B)

1- Blood brain barrier. Cephalorachidian fluid. Composition of the liquor. Cerebral circulation and its regulation. Brain flux and metabolism.
2- Arches, Paleo and Neocortex. Cortical associative areas. Hemispheric lateralization and corpus callosum. Effects of hemispheric disconnection. Gender Brain Differences.
3- The hypothalamus. Neuroendocrine functions of the hypothalamus. Role of the hypothalamus in thermoregulation, food intake and autonomic regulation.
4- The limbic system. Correlations between the limbic system and the cortex. The amygdala.
5 - Integrative functions of the nervous system. Higher functions: central neurotransmitters, reticular substance and consciousness. Language and brain plasticity. Memory and learning: locations, phases and mechanisms, neurobiological basis of short and long term memory.
6- Sleep and dreams: characteristics, REM and non-REM sleep, hypotheses on sleep. Circadian rhythms. Reticular substance and consciousness. EEG.

TRAINING OF PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOPHYSICS (M4019E)

Electrophysiology.
Objective Diagnostics: Electroencephalogram (E.E.G.). Trigeminal Potentials. Objective Olfactory Diagnostics: Ost Test, Eog, Oerp and Ort-Test Vocs. Exercises

Recommended Bibliography

- Conti: Fisiologia Medica. Edi-Ermes, Milano.
- Kandel, Schwartz, Jessell: Principi di Neuroscienze. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana
- Brodal. Il sistema nervoso. Piccin Editore.
- Purves D. et al., Neuroscienze. Zanichelli
- Grassi, Negrini, Porro: Fisiologia Umana. Poletto Editore 2015
- Pape, Kurtz, Sinbernagl: Fisiologia Umana. EdiSES

Teaching Methods

The modules will be held according to the modalities foreseen for the traditional lessons and will be integrated at the end of the course by mandatory Traineeships in small groups concerning experiences of methods and measures in physiology.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

ORAL EXAMINATION. Two out of three appeals per exam.
The exam method is an oral test designed to verify the results of the expected learning, in accordance with the educational and specific objectives of the course. The oral examination is placed at the end of the course, after having achieved the attendance to the same, according to a schedule established and published on the personal page of the student at the beginning of the academic year, which provides two (2) exam sessions for canonical session exam. For the off-course courses, additional ad hoc appeals are planned.
The outcome of the test is evaluated as the result of learning the specific and training objectives, such as knowledge and understanding, capacity for logical integration and application. At the end of the test each teacher will form an opinion expressed in bands of vote and thirty:
A) Excellent knowledge and understanding of the subjects, ability to reason and logical integration of the acquired knowledge and insertion in the context of an application in the pathophysiology. Rating: 30/30.
If the student, who has achieved this evaluation, demonstrates autonomy of judgment, high communication skills and autonomous learning skills, degree with honors will be proposed.

B) Good knowledge and understanding of the topics with some non-serious inaccuracies and with a good capacity for logical integration and judgment, and application in the pathophysiology rating: 27-29/30

C) Discrete knowledge and understanding of the topics and, despite some gaps in the ability to integrate and apply knowledge. Rating: 24-26/30

D) Knowledge and understanding of the arguments fully sufficient, although there are clear gaps, which are reflected in a reduced capacity for integration, logic and application. Rating 21-23/30

E) Knowledge and understanding of the topics with serious and evident gaps, with limited integrative and applicative skills, but which also allow the passing of the exam. Rating 18-20/30

Contacts/More Information

Those who do not reach the percentage of presence established by the Degree Course Council, will have to agree with the coordinator the methods of recovery.

Student reception hours:

Prof. Di Giulio: Ask for appointments: by telephone to the numbers 0871 3554044oe by mail to digiulio@unich.it

Prof.ssa M.A. Mariggiò: ask for appointment by telephone to the numbers 0871 3554048 or 0871/541399 or by email to maria.mariggio@unich.it

Prof.ssa C. Paolini: ask for appointment by telephone to the number 0871-541507 or by email to cecilia.paolini@unich.it

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree