NAME__________________________ DATE________________



NAME__________________________ DATE________________

Nervous System Webquest

Save this document to your school folder—open in Word and record your answers as you go. Please use either a different COLOR or a different FONT so that I can see your answers quickly. You will email the completed assignment to me. Click on the linked articles and answer the questions that follow.

How Do Nerve Cells Communicate? (Medical Research Council)

• What is the difference between excitatory and inhibitory nerve impulses?

About MS (National Multiple Sclerosis Society)

Follow the sequence: "What is MS", "What causes MS"...through "Diagnosis"

• Describe how Multiple Sclerosis (MS) occurs.

• How can MS affect people physically?

• Why is MS known as an “autoimmune” disease? What tissues are specifically targeted in the case of MS?

As you finish this series of questions, reflect on what you have learned…

• How is MS an example of a disease that results from faulty cellular communication?

Go to the NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS page at .

1. On the "Neuroscience For Kids" homepage, look at the left panel. Click on, Explore. This will bring you to table of contents. Click on The Neuron and then Millions and billions of cells, types of neurons to learn the general anatomical structures of a typical nerve cell.

• Draw a neuron and label its parts. Give the function for each part.

2. Hit your back button and then click on Lights, Camera, Action Potential to review how nerves transmit their signals (this will be review from other units)

• Describe what happens when a neuron "fires" or sends a signal.

• Think a minute… if an action potential is "all or nothing," then how does your brain tell "cool" from "cold" or "freezing?" (There are several ways… try to come up with an answer!)

3. Hit your back button TWICE in order to return to the main menu: Click on “BRAIN BASICS". Click on "DIVISIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM." Answer the following questions from the information there...

• What are the two major subdivisions of the nervous system?

• What two structures make up the central nervous system?

• About how many nerve cells (neurons) are in the brain?

4. Go back one page to the Explore menu and click on “The Blood-Brain-Barrier”.

• When did scientists first discover that the brain had this extra layer of protection? How did they discover it?

• Why do we need this extra protection for the brain?

• Describe three things that can break down the BBB.

5. Go back to the Table of Contents. Click on "THE VENTRICLES AND CSF."

• What is cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)?

• Describe 2 functions of CSF.

6. Go to Frontline and watch video clips 2 and 4. Summarize those video clips here.

7. Next, go to and read about the feedback mechanism that controls thirst. Describe/sketch out the negative feedback loop here.

8. Go to How stuff works and read this entry on Caffeine. Describe/sketch out the feedback loop regulating the action of caffeine on the body.

Walking Away from Spinal Cord Injury:

A Look at Physics and Engineering in Biology

In 1978, actor Christopher Reeve was flying high as Superman. When a fall from a horse left him paralyzed in 1995, he became one of the country’s best-known advocates for spinal cord injury research. Perhaps you have heard about Christopher Reeve, but you probably don’t know about Sammy Hughes. In September of 2000, Sam was looking forward to completing football season and starting wrestling. Then a game injury left him returning to school permanently paralyzed. He was an average kid, just like you, one of the 1000 people who injure their spinal cords every year. Young people, ages 15 – 25, are the group most at risk.

How does this happen? How does an injury to the spinal cord cause paralysis? Why is it so often permanent? Have you heard that some nerves just don’t seem to repair themselves? One day we all hope that stem cell research will be able to cause spinal cord injuries to heal, but what about now? What can we do about spinal cord injuries today?

There is no cure for a damaged spinal cord right now, but there is some help. Like most problems, however, spinal cord injury and its complications require the knowledge and methods of a large group of scientists and engineers. As you work your way through this investigation, keep in mind these two CENTRAL QUESTIONS…

1. How did the creation of a technological solution (the Parastep FES system) require the work of a diverse group of scientists and engineers? How is this a model for how science is done? (Be specific first, naming the types of people you encountered in your search and telling how they contributed. Then generalize to the overall roles that physicists, biologists, health professionals and engineers play in medical advances.)

2. How can we justify the cost of this type of treatment? You are a doctor at a rehabilitation facility. Write a letter to your patient’s insurer, MegaMed Insurance, to convince them to pay for her Parastep system. Include its cost and any reasons that might convince them to provide this care.

You’ll come back to these a little later, but first you’ll need some background information…

Spinal Cord Injury Trauma

Paralysis usually results from some sort of jolt (“trauma”) to the spine. That is not the whole story, however. Visit these sites to find out what really happens in a spinal cord injury.



University of Washington Rehabilitation medicine

National Institutes of Health

• What affects the severity of a spinal cord injury?

• Many of us might guess that the damage done in a spinal cord injury is done by tearing or severing the neurons. What is the more common cause of damage in these situations? Explain in detail the process that kills the neurons.

Living With Spinal Cord Injury

As recently as the Second World War, patients with paralysis often died from complications in the few weeks. Now that they are living nearly a normal life span, the effects of living with paralysis log-term can create serious medical challenges. Read about them here.

Spinal Injury Network

1. A patient survives a spinal cord injuring accident. What kinds of complications will they face due to their new condition? Give a very short description of each.

2. From that long list pick the four that you think are the most serious and explain your choices.

3. There is a major problem left off of this that too often leads to death. Think about this and guess what that complication might be. Explain how the associated deaths might be prevented.

A Therapy From Physics and Engineering

While there is not yet a cure for a damaged spinal cord, there is a therapy that can address many of the complications. Read about it here.



The Parastep Program

1. Explain what FES is and how it works.

2. What benefits might be achieved through the use of either an ERGYS or Parastep system?

3. Why might a patient prefer a Parastep system over an ERGYS bike? Why might someone else prefer the ERGYS system?

CONCLUSION

Now that you have looked at the operation of the nervous system, paralysis (and its complications) caused by spinal cord trauma and the operation and benefits of functional electrical stimulation, you are ready to go back and answer the CENTRAL QUESTIONS we looked at before. Here they are again…

1. How did the creation of a technological solution (the Parastep FES system) require the work of a diverse group of scientists and engineers? How is this a model for how science is done? (Be specific first, naming the types of people you encountered in your search and telling how they contributed. Then generalize to the overall roles that physicists, biologists, health professionals and engineers play in medical advances.)

2. How can we justify the cost of this type of treatment? You are a doctor at a rehabilitation facility. Write a letter to your patient’s insurer, MegaMed Insurance, to convince them to pay for her Parastep system. Include its cost and any reasons that might convince them to provide this care.

Take your time with these questions and put plenty of thought into them!

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Remember this image? You read about the communication pathway of cells when you did the endocrine webquest last unit. If needed, go back and reread the introductory articles of that webquest. It is essential for the first part of this webquest that you remember how cells communicate. For the first part of the webquest, you will study Multiple Sclerosis—which we also looked at during the Muscle unit. Now you will learn about it in more detail in light of the nervous system’s role in that disease. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that results in a lack of correct nerve impulse signaling.

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