BiologyCode 9700
Control and coordination in mammals
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- describe the traits of the endocrine system, using the hormones ADH, glucagon and insulin as reference points (see 14.1.8, 14.1.9 and 14.1.10)
- compare the characteristics of the nervous and endocrine systems
- describe how a motor neurone and a sensory neurone are built and what each does, and state that motor neurones and sensory neurones are linked by intermediate neurones
- outline what sensory receptor cells do when they pick up stimuli, and how they prompt impulses to pass along sensory neurones
- describe the order of events by which a sensory neurone comes to produce an action potential, taking as the example a chemoreceptor cell found in a human taste bud
- describe and explain how the membrane potential of a neurone changes, including: the way the resting potential is kept up, what happens during an action potential, and how, during the refractory period, the resting potential is brought back
- describe and explain how an impulse travels quickly along a myelinated neurone, referring to saltatory conduction
- explain why the refractory period matters for how often impulses can be sent
- describe how a cholinergic synapse is built and explain how it works, including what calcium ions do
- describe the part played in setting off contraction of striated muscle by the sarcoplasmic reticulum, the T-tubule system and neuromuscular junctions
- describe, from diagrams and electron micrographs, the ultrastructure of striated muscle, paying attention to how a sarcomere is built
- explain how muscles contract according to the sliding filament model, including what ATP, calcium ions, tropomyosin and troponin each do