Background
What is the neuroanatomy lab?
The neuroanatomy lab is an environment where individuals, in this case students can first hand get a visual representation of the human nervous system.
On which plane were most of the brains within the lab cut?
Coronal slice.
Jenna's reaction to the brain was driven by which neurotransmitters?
Norepinephrine and Serotonin.
What did Jenna look like in the lab?
Pale.
What are the two parts of the nervous system?
The peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system.
What structures were involved with the largest specimen
The PNS and the CNS connected.
Why do the symptoms of Alzheimer's present the way they do?
Due to the hippocampus the the temporal lobes being targeted first in this disease, which is the areas of the brain responsible for learning and memory, symptoms like memory loss present commonly.
Did Jenna even really look at the brains?
The best she could.
In what capacity has Jenna seen a brain of any kind before this lab?
Viewed videos and pictures and studied anatomy.
How long did the lead lab man say the large specimen had been there?
Over 30 years.
When Jenna flinched (or "jumped") at the mention of dissecting a brain, what part of the neuron during an action potential would assist in this type of action?
Nodes of Ranvier
When Jenna finally decided she had seen enough, what happened?
She shook her head and said, "No, no not for me, got to go." and pushed a pull door trying to "escape."
What did Jenna think she was going to be looking at during this lab?
Rat brains.
What was main difference between the healthy brain and the unhealthy brain in the lab?
The unhealthy brain had enlarged ventricles (empty spaces) and seemed smaller or "shrunk"
If Jenna were to go back and look at more brains frequently, becoming use to the sight, what type of neural plasticity does that resemble and why?
Long-term potentiation- like the constant exposure to brains, neurons that fire together frequently, grow use to firing together therefor leading to more receptors. This is like her looking at the brains growing more tolerance to seeing them and being able to frequently look at them without so much effort (unlikely to happen, unlike long-term potentiation)
What did Jenna keep repeating as she walked home?
"That was a HUMAN BRAIN!?"