Golden Dart Frog - no, this is not a photo from the Oregon Zoo...
The other night as I was studying something, I think cell physiology, Kadie read this story about the golden dart frog -
Go to here to read a funny story: http://animalreview.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/golden-dart-frog/
Long story short, she was laughing so hard she almost fell out of her chair. I started to read the story and immediately saw the potential for a study aid. We started and finished cell physiology last Friday and today went through a semester of muscle physiology in 3 hours! It is an extremely fast pace, but I find it easier to understand and remember how everything works if say, I can relate it to a neurotoxin from a frog. The way this neurotoxin works (again this is simplified for the non-science major peeps) is that it disrupts sodium gated channels in cells. The cell backstory: all cells tightly control their internal environment. In order to function properly, cells control how much of certain ions are on the inside (eg: sodium, potassium etc). The sodium ion is important in regulating membrane potential, depolarization of which is how cells propagate action potentials (allowing a muscle cell to contract). Back to the neurotoxin: by disrupting the sodium channels the cells can no longer propagate action potentials to their neighbors and effectively become paralyzed. This is bad. So, if your muscle cells become paralyzed you stop breathing. Period.
PA school is sooooo cool.
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