Weeks 1-5 Flashcards
Formative 1
What is the difference between prokaryotic, eukaryotic cells and viruses?
What is the role of surface projections?
Prokaryotic = few membrane bound organelles and smaller ribosomes Eukaryotic = have DNA and histones and larger ribosomes Viruses = lack all cell characteristics
Surface projections = Binds eukaryotic cells via cell junctions
What are all the cell properties?
Irritable - react to unnatural things Conductive - pick up, react, pass on things Contractile - can move Absorb and assimilate Excrete and secrete Respire Grow Reproduce
What is a tissue definition and how is it formed?
What part of a cell is compound tissue?
Cellular and extracellular elements assembled to form basis of bodily functional systems, when 1 or more cell types usually predominate.
Formed via histogenesis
Cell epithelium
What are the 3 primary germ layers (examples)?
Ectoderm (nervous tissue), mesoderm (muscle), endoderm (epithelium)
What are the 4 tissue types?
Epithelia: closely packed cells that line organ surface, derived form 1/3 germ layers
Connective tissue: cells from mesoderm which produce extracellular fibre matrix
Muscular tissue: mesoderm cells with filaments and of contractile proteins in cytoplasm
Nervous tissue: from neuroectoderm, cells with neurites that conduct impulses upon stimulation
What proteins allow endocytosis?
Related pathologies?
Fusogenic proteins
Anaemia, lysosomal storage disorders, Zellweger’s syndrome
The protein synthesis pathway?
Related pathologies to exocytosis?
Recognition of peptide signal sequence Peptide orientated by docking protein Translation and insertion of protein into endoplasmic reticulum Protein modification and processing Protein stored Exocytosis
I-cell disease, Lewy bodies, pro-insulin diabetes
Properties of lysosome and proteasome?
Lysosome = works in acidic conditions, peroxisome is type containing catalase Proteasome = digests protein with ubiquitation
Purpose of microscopes in medicine?
To distinguish between normal and abnormal tissue
What are the different types of stain?
H and E: Haematoxylin - stains components purple / blue
Eosin - stains basic components pink
Periodic acid Schiff: stains aldehydes, from oxidised sugars, bright pink / purple
Trichome: shows different components, such as muscle
Weigert’s elastin: stains elastic
What is the size of most cells, RBCs and mitochondria?
7-20 micrometers
- 2 micrometers
- 0 X 0.2 micrometers
What are chromosomes, chromatin and nucleosomes?
Chromosomes = condensed chromatin Chromatin = DNA and RNA proteins combined ( proteins are both acidic and basic (histones)) Nucleosomes = 2 DNA double helix wrapped around 8 histones
What is the difference between heterochromatin and euchromatin?
Hetero = + condensed, is near nuclear envelope, represents SWITCHED OFF genes Eu = - condensed, is centrally located, represents SWITCHED ON genes
Properties of histones?
- Rich in basic amino acids
- Core histones = H2A, H2B, H3, H4
- Linker histones = H1, H5
- Use for DNA compacting and chromatin regulation
What are the 3 tissue groups based on cell proliferation?
- Epidermis = Continually renewing
- Liver / kidney = Conditionally renewing
- Nerve cells / cardiac cells = static / non-proliferative
What are the 5 cell cycle stages and when does DNA synthesis occur?
Prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase
S phase
What is the role of cyclins and why are they clinically important?
- Determine cell progress through cell cycle
- Coordinate cell entry into next phase
- Cyclin-dependent kinases = activated when they bind to cyclin
- Target proteins are then activated or inactivated
Clinical importance = may be anti-cancer agents as they arrest cell cycle - tumour suppressors
What are the properties of bases and what is polymerisation direction?
What is the difference between DNA and RNA structure?
What is an insertion mutation?
Aromatic, planar, hydrophobic
2’ DNA = hydrogen
2’ RNA = hydroxyl
Chemical inserted between DNA bases
What are the stages of DNA replication?
- Helicase unravels DNA
- Leading strand = 3’ end
- Lagging strand = 5’ end
- Lagging strand = ozaki fragments so 5-3’ direction
- RNA primer required for replication
What are the properties of mRNA?
What shifts start codons?
- 5’ cap added post-transcription for translation
- Has ribosome binding site
- Has start / stop codons
- 5’ and 3’ UTRs which have info for mRNA stability and translation
- Poly(A) tail and signal added post-transcription to regulate mRNA stability and translation
Mutations
What are the impacts of UTR mutation?
Causes disease as proteins can’t bind
What determines protein 3D structure and what bonds do primary proteins and cystine have?
What are the properties of peptide bonds?
What do all proteins start with?
Genes
Disulphide
Double bond characteristics, no free electron rotation, bond is planar
Methionine
What are the properties of alpha helix and beta sheets?
What are the main polypeptide forces?
Alpha = COOH and NH2 form hydrogen bonds Beta = 5-10 amino acids with hydrogen bonds - parallel and anti-parallel
Hydrophobic, electrostatic (hydrogen, Van der Waal, ionic), covalent
What are the types of protein mutations?
- Dysfunctional or absent protein
- Cut metabolic pathway
- Dysfunctional regulatory protein or receptor
- Protein aggregation
- Loss / impairment of infection defence
What are oligomers and what are the 2 types?
What are protomers?
+1 polypeptide chains
Homo-oligomer
Hetero-oligomer
Identical sub-units
What are the properties of oligomers?
- Greater size means better enzyme
- Each sub-unit has an active site
Globular = regular secondary structure
Fibrous = type of secondary structure
What are the properties of haemoglobin?
- 4 globin sub-units held by hydrogen bonds and salt bridges
- 1 haem group per sub-unit
- More O2 = looser sub-units with greater oxygen affinity = salt bridges break
- Greater O2 pressure = is cooperative as greater O2 saturation
What is glycosylation and hydroxylation?
- Attachment of carbohydrate
- Carbohydrate is minor to glycoprotein
- Carbohydrate is major to proteoglycans
- Requires vitamin C
- Proteasome destroys misfolded proteins
- Chaperones aid protein folding
What are protein misfolding disorders?
What are prion diseases?
Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s
Diseases that can be prevented by medical intervention / age associated
What is period prevalence?
What is disease incidence?
Proportion affected over a period of time
New cases in a period of time
What is risk?
What is attributable risk?
What is NNT? How do you work it out?
Probability an event will occur
Difference in risk between exposed and unexposed populations if exposure causally related to disease
Average number of patients requiring treatment to prevent 1 additional bad outcome
- 1 / reduction in risk
What is risk ratio?
What is odds ratio?
Risk in exposed / risk in unexposed
A / B (diseased / healthy in exposed category)
How do enzymes cause disease?
What are the active site functional groups?
When does enzyme specificity increase?
Enzyme under / over expression
Co-enzymes, metal ions, amino acid residues
In biosynthetic reactions
What happens during lock and key?
What prevents it?
Hydrophobic, electrostatic and hydrogen substrate interactions
Steric hindrance and charge repulsion
What happens during induced fit?
Repositioning of amino acid side chains
What is the transition state complex?
- Rate of reaction is number of molecules with Ea
- Point when bonds maximally strained
- Greater binding to enzyme than substrate
What are cofactor/ coenzyme properties?
- Prosthetic groups (metal ions) are tightly bound cofactors
- Human coenzymes are synthesised from vitamins
- Coenzymes decrease in activity in enzyme absence (enzyme provides stability and orientation)
- Activation –> transfer / oxidation –> reduction
What are isoenzymes?
What are advantages of multi-enzyme complexes?
Enzymes that catalyse same reaction with different amino acid sequence
Diffusion transit time reduced
Less interference
Where do you find serum specific enzymes?
Where do you find secreted enzymes?
Where do you find non-serum specific enzymes?
Normal location
Pancreatic lipase / salivary amylase
No role in serum, released due to cell turnover, damage or morphological changes
What happens in pre-steady state, steady state and what is V0?
Pre-steady state = product gradually builds with excess substrate
Steady state = rate of reaction and intermediate concentration slowly change
V0 = initial rate of reaction
What are the assumptions to make in Michaelis-Menten equation?
What is Km?
What does high and low substrate conc. mean?
Assume: large number of molecules, low enzyme bound substrate percentage
Michaelis constant = affinity to enzyme = substrate concentration when V0 = 1/2 Vmax
High = 0 order = rate independent of substrate concentration Low = 1st order = rate proportional to substrate concentration
What are the properties of inhibitors?
What is Ki?
- Bind to active site
- Overcome with + substrate concentration
- Increase Km
- No impact on Vmax
- Reversible = not covalently bound to enzyme (competitive, non-competitive, uncompetitive)
- Irreversible = target metal atoms at active site, not all covalent
- Non-competitive lower Vmax
- Uncompetitive only bind to enzyme-substrate complex and form ESIs
Ki = inhibitor binding dissociation constant
What are two control methods to regulate enzymes?
Substrate response
Product inhibition
What is allosteric activation / inhibition and advantages? (regulatory mechanism)
Effectors (small molecules) non-covalently bind to enzymes at allosteric site
Advantage = rapid process as effectors don’t need to resemble substrate
What is and activator and an inhibitor?
What are the two types of effector?
Activator = + enzyme activity with effector binding Inhibitor = - enzyme activity with effector binding
Homotropic effector = substrate is allosteric effector
Heterotropic effector = effector differs from substrate
What is the difference between positive and negative cooperativity?
Positive = substrate enhances catalytic properties of other subunits by binding to one subunit
Negative = substrate binds and reduces catalytic properties of other subunits
What are the main properties of cell membranes?
Where is ion conc. varied?
- Flexible
- Self-sealing
- Selectively permeable
Between:
Extracellular fluid and cell
Cell cytoplasm and compartments
What are the properties of lipid bilayer / plasma membrane?
- Encloses all mammalian cells
- Hydrophobic bilayer
- Restricts polar compound movement
- Proteins are integral or peripheral
What are the properties of phospholipids, glycolipids and fatty acids?
Joined by phosphodiester bonds
Covalently attached carbohydrates
Carboxyl groups at end of chain
What are the two membrane classes and their properties?
Phosphoglycerides:
- Polar head attached to phosphate
- 2 fatty acids esterified to glycerol backbone
- Phosphate attached at position 3 on glycerol
Sphingolipids:
- Fatty acid joined to sphingosine
- Membrane has 2 hydrophobic tails (1 = fatty acid residue, 1 = hydrocarbon tail)
What is the role of flippase, floppase and scramblase?
Flippase = moves phospholipids from outer to cytosolic leaflet
Floppase = moves phospholipids from cytosolic to outer leaflet
Scramblase = moves lipids either direction towards equilibrium
What are the properties of membrane proteins?
- Asymmetric orientation
- Integral ones have transmembrane domains
- Peripheral ones can be released from membrane by ionic solvents
- Lipid anchored ones bond to inner / outer surface
What are medical examples of illnesses related to membranes?
Clostridium pertringens - anaerobic bacteria causes gangrene and secretes alpha toxin
What happens in cross-sectional studies and what are the bias, advantages and disadvantages? (example)
Look at prevalence of a specific disease in a population, at a specific time.
- Information is gathered at the same point
- Looks at how common things are
- Typically on a sample, not a whole population
- Must be free of bias
Bias = Selection bias or information bias
Advantages = Quick, no follow-up, cheap, simple Disadvantages = Not useful for rare outcomes, can't assess causation
What happens in cohort studies and what are the bias, advantages and disadvantages? (example)
Monitor side effects / health implications of long-term use of a medication
- Groups defined on exposure
- Patients followed overtime to look for outcomes
Bias = Selection bias, ascertainment bias, attrition bias
Advantages = Know exposure was prior to disease, easily look at multiple outcomes, direct incidence assessment, little recall of exposure bias, good for rare exposures Disadvantages = Poor for rare outcomes, slow, expensive, attrition bias
What happens in case control studies and what are the bias, advantages and disadvantages? (example)
Comparing lifestyle of patients with a disease compared to those in population without disease
- Groups defined based on outcomes
- Cases with outcome studies and controls who don’t
Bias = Selection bias, recall bias
Advantages = Good for rare outcomes with long exposure to disease latency, cheap, quick, easy study of multiple exposures, good for difficult follow-up Disadvantages = Bias, only one outcome studied, bad for rare exposure
What happens in ecological studies and what are the advantages and disadvantages? (example)
Comparison of disease prevalence in two different places at the same time
- Association of outcome and exposure at population level
- See relationship of populations and exposure and outcome
Advantages = quick, cheap, hypotheses generated, early study of association Disadvantages = Unequal ascertainment or recording of disease, differences in measurement of exposures, can't correct confounding factors, population relationships may not be true at individual level
What are the parts of cell cytoskeleton?
Actin microfilmanets = Form microvilli and stereocilia skeleton, have 7nm diameter of polar double stranded G actin helix
Intermediate filaments = Support desosomes and interact with elements of cytoskeleton, have 10nm of fibres of various proteins twisted
Microtubules = In cilia and flagallae, have 25nm hollow alpha and beta tubulin cylinders
What is the role of microvilli, what is cilia orientation and centrioles role?
Microvilli = increase SA, no movement
Cilia = 9 + 2 orientation
Centrioles = 9 + 0 pattern, organise microtubule assembly in cell division
What are the 6 cell junctions and their properties and purpose?
Zona occludens:
- 5 layer appearance
- Continuous intramembranous particle line
- Prevent membrane movement from apical to lateal cell surface
- Limit water movement between cells through intracellular / paracellular space
Zonula adherens:
- Provide stability by linking cytoskeleton of adjacent cells (requires calcium)
- 20nm gap
- Cell adhesion molecules
Macula adherens (desmosomes):
- Link intermediate filaments in cytoplasm
- 30nm gap
- Discoid (disc shape)
- Specialised cadherens
- Perpendicular to basement membrane
Hemidesmosomes:
- Face basement membrane
- Integrins
- Laminin
- Collagen
Communicating junction:
- Allows direct communication with adjacent cells
- Allows ion, AA, sugar, second messenger and metabolite passage
- Permits coordinated cell activity
- Connexons formed from connexins
Extracellular matrix:
- Provides mechanical and structural support
- Has ground substance (GAGs)
- Hydrophilic so attracts water and sodium
- Has collagen and elastin
Diseases related to cells?
Elhers Danlos syndrome Marfans syndrome Scurvy Homecystimuria Lysosomal storage disorders
What are epithelia characteristics?
- Entirely cellular
- Have cell polarity
- Specialised cell contact
- Lateral cell communication
- Basal lamina separating from underlying tissue
- Rapid cell turnover
How is epithelia classified?
- Number of cell layers ( 1 = simple, +1 = compound)
- Shape of outermost cells (squamous, cuboidal, columnar)
- Position of nuclei (stratified / pseudostratified)
- Transitional
- Ciliated (usually also pseudostratified)
What are the main functions of epithelia?
- Absorption (simple epithelia)
- Protection (stratified epithelia)
- Secretion
- Sensory perception
- Material movement (cilia)
- Wound repair
What are the epithelial cell surface specialisations?
Microvilli = increase SA, core of microfilaments, anchored in terminal webs
Cilia = apical surface, very numerous, transport materials across surface, microtubules
Stereocilia = non-motile, microfilament core (modified microvilli)
Basal infoldings = increase SA
What is the difference between exocrine and endocrine glands?
What are the 3 types of exocrine glands?
Exocrine = duct forms for secretory cells below
Endocrine = No duct, secrete into capillaries
Eccrine - exocytosis and no cell loss
Holocrine - full cell loss during secretion
Apocrine - loss of apical surface cells as membrane bound vesicles
How can exocrine glands be classified?
- Simple tubular (large intestine)
- Simple acinar (penile urethra)
- Simple coiled tubular (sweat glands)
- Simple branched tubular (stomach)
- Simple branched acinar (sebaceous gland)
- Compound branched tubular (duodenum)
- Compound acinar (pancreas)
- Compound tubule-acinar (salivary glands)
What are the characteristics of connective tissues?
What does mesenchyme have to enable formation of connective tissues?
- ECM separates cells
- Nerves and blood vessels in ECM
- Cell communication
- Slow cell turnover
- Interaction of adhesion molecules with ECM
Fibroblasts for ECM synthesis and maintenance
Adipose cells for storage and mechanical effects
Mast cells, macrophages and WBCs for defence
What are the two types of structural glycoproteins and their functions?
Filamentous:
- Joins fibres together / to cells to form meshwork
- Fibrillin links to elastin
- Fibronectin links, via integrin, to cells and deposits collagen
Non-filamentous:
- Links cells and ECM
- Laminin is major basement membrane component
- Entactin binds laminin to type IV collagen
- Tenascin binds to integrins
What diseases and auto-immune disorders are associated with connective tissue?
Elhers Danlos syndrome Marfans syndrome Scurvy Homocystimuria Lysosomal storage disorders Fibroma
Systematic lupus erythematosus
Rheumatoid arthritis
Scleroderma
Mixed connective tissue disease
What are the properties of cartilage?
- Chondroblast (GAGs and large proteoglycans)
- Turgid hyaline cartilage
- Tensile strength
- Tough
- Resists deformation
ECM = ground substance, fibres, chrondroblast (secrete matrix) and chrondrocyte (maintain matrix)
How is cartilage growth and maintained?
Matrix = water permeable so delivers dissolved oxygen and nutrients and removes waste
Relies on diffusion as is mainly non-vascular
Interstitial and appositional growth
What are the types of cartilage?
What causes cartilage damage?
Hyaline cartilage = articular surfaces, tracheal rings
Fibrocartilage = invertebral discs, pubic symphysis
Elastic cartilage = external ear, auditory canal, epiglottis
Genes (chondrodysplasias)
Arthritis
Sports injuries
What is stress?
what is the difference between acute and chronic stress?
What are life events?
A physical or psychological response to prepare one to cope with a particular demand
Acute = response to an urgent demand Chronic = stress response activated for a long time period
Positive or negative change in one’s life which requires adjustment
What are the events of the stress response?
- Activation of sympathetic nervous system
- Activation of HPA axis
- Amygdala processes emotion and evaluates events
- Hypothalamus activated pituitary gland and controls bodily functions
- Pituitary gland secretes hormones which have effect on other body parts
- Hippocampus is involved in memory formation and retrieval
- Prefrontal cortex carries glucocorticoid receptors
What happens in HPA axis with acute stress?
- HPA response triggered so + cortisol release by adrenal cortex
- Cortisol attached to glucocorticoid receptors in brain
- Cortisol production by brain is inhibited by attachment to receptors
- No more cortisol production
What happens in HPA axis with chronic stress?
- HPA response constantly triggered so constant cortisol release
- Too much in blood so body can’t breakdown
- Glucocorticoid receptors damaged by excess cortisol
- No inhibition of cortisol release so remains constant
What are physical, social, behavioural and psychological symptoms of stress?
Headaches, insomnia, nausea
Lateness, decreases social engagement
Difficulty concentrating, brain fog, anxiety and depression
What are direct effects of stress on the body?
- Damage from excess cortisol
- Reduced T-cell activity
- Reduced healing time
- Activated platelets (CVS)
- Increase in lipids (CVS)
- Plaque promotion on artery walls (CVS)
What are indirect effects of stress on body?
- Smoking, alcohol
- Exposed to danger
- Health protective factors affected
- Uptake of medical care influenced
What are the 2 types of glial cells and their function?
What are their nuclei like?
Astrocytes = cover neuron parts with no synapses or myelin and take up and provide nutrients to neurons from capillaries (form blood-brain barrier)
Oligodendrocytes = make myelin from thin spiralled oligodendrocyte layers and allow saltatory conduction through this
Astrocyte = larger, oval, lighter, finer granula Oligodendrocyte = round, dark, small Microglia = small, dark, longitudinal
What is the function of microglial cells?
What is the difference between ganglia and nuclei?
Involved in immune system
Maintain CNS
Phagocytose and act as APCs
Ganglia = made from clusters of PNS perikarya Nuclei = made from clusters of CNS perikarya
What is satellite cells, grey matter, white matter, epineurium, perineurium, endoneurium?
Satellite cells = supports cells for PNS ganglia
Grey matter = area with neuron cluster
White matter = predominantly myelinated nerve connections
Epineurium = collagenous connective tissue
Perineurium = forms seal by bundling axons into fascicles and forms a sheath of flat cells
Endoneurium = loose connective tissue
What is the purpose of a membrane potential and what affects it?
What specific drugs affect it?
Homeostasis, transport, signal transduction, intercellular communication
Drugs, toxins, venoms
CNS drugs Cardiovascular drugs Gastrointestinal drugs Respiratory drugs Urinary and myometrial drugs
What is diffusion potential and steady state?
Voltage where electrostatic force on ion is opposite and equals to chemical force from concentration gradient
Electrochemical equilibrium
What does it mean when Vm = Ek and Vm > Ek?
What is the role of Na+ / K+ - ATPase?
What inhibits sodium pump?
Virtually no ion movement across membrane
Constant ion flow across membrane
Enzyme which replenishes lost K+ and removes Na+ accumulation in cell and maintains Na+ and K+ concentration gradient
Digoxin and ouabain
What is difference between AP upstroke (positive feedback) and AP downstroke (negative feedback)?
Membrane depolarisation
Increase in Na+ permeability
Increase in Na+ influx
Membrane depolarisation
Increase in K+ permeability
Increase in K+ outflow
Membrane hyperpolarisation
What is the difference between conduction and propagation?
Continuous wave of depolarisation
Interrupted wave of depolarisation due to nodes of Ranvier and saltatory conduction
What is a reflex?
What information does dorsal and ventral spine receive?
What is the spinal structure?
Unlearned, automatic response to a stimulus
Dorsal = nerve route from efferent nerves, usually sensory input Ventral = nerve route from afferent enrves, usually motor output
7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, 3-5 fused coccygeal
What are the properties of a reflex?
What are the properties of volitional control?
- Stimulus response
- Innate
- Hard wired
- Pre-programmed
- Internal desire
- Learned
- Programmed
What are the types of reflex?
What is Babinski’s reflex?
Superficial = blink, sneeze, toes curl Deep = patellar Visceral = pupillary, bladder
Flexor response = toes curl down (normal)
Extensor response = toes curl up (abnormal)
What is synaptic transmission?
How is the information transformed?
Transmission of information from neuron to target
Electrical to chemical neurotransmitters
What are pre and post-synaptic events?
Influx of Ca+ in presynaptic knob
Neurotransmitter binds to receptors on post-synaptic knob, ion channels open, change in potential, fast and reversible
What happens at the inhibitory synapse?
- Ionotropic event where Cl- influx, hyperpolarisation of post-synaptic cell
- Inhibitory post-synaptic potential means decreased chance of AP firing as Vm further from threshold value
- Reduced excitability
What are the main abilities of babies and at what age?
Focal length = 20-30cm 3 days = distinguish mother's voice 6 days = identify mother's smell Preterm massage = promotes growth 32 weeks gestation = all of baby body is touch sensitive Newborns = turn head toward sound 1-2 days = can recognise mother
What are signs of attachment?
What causes disruption in attachment?
What is the purpose of attachment?
- Separation anxiety
- Less afraid with attachment figure
- Social referencing
Repeated hospitalisation, post-natal depression, day-care
For survival
How is attachment classified?
- Secure attachment
- Insecure / resistant attachment
- Insecure / avoidant attachment
- Disorganised attachment
What are implications for doctors for attachment?
What are implications for mothers for attachment?
- Reduced family separation
- Support and preparation for parents in medical setting
- Continuity of care with child
- Insecure attachment = poor emotional response = self-harm
- wellbeing and adaptation to illness with secure attachment
- anxiety = poorer health, more pain, more mental health issues
What are the two joint types and their properties?
Fibrous joint = bones joined by fibrous tissue
Cartilaginous joint = bones joined by hyaline cartilage (primary) or fibrocartilage (secondary)
Synovial joint = bones joined by fibrous capsule, separated by joint cavity (i.e. ball and socket joint)
What does HPC, OE, DH, PMH, FH, SH, eGFR, HbA1c and LFT mean?
History of present complaint On examination Drug history Past medical history Family history Social history Estimated GFR Glucose levels over period of time Liver function test
What are the two types of chromosomes?
Metacentric - central centromere and equal arms
Acrocentric - eccentric centromere and unequal arms
What is Vmax?
What does high and low Km mean?
Reaction rate when substrate concentration is infinitely high
High = low substrate affinity Low = high substrate affinity
What are the drawbacks of Lineweaver-Burk equation?
What does it resemble?
What is the y-intercept value?
What is the x-intercept value?
What is the gradient?
- Unequal point distribution
- Emphasizes points with low substrate conc.
y = mx + c
1 / Vmax
-1 / Km
Km / Vmax
What are the characteristics of cholesterol and what is its purpose?
- Only one hydroxyl group
- Not really water soluble
Maintains membrane fluidity
What is the function and contents of ECM?
- Mechanical / structural support
- Extracellular communication
Ground substance (GAGs, proteogylcans) Fibres (collagen, elastin)
What are the properties of ground substance and GAGs?
Ground substance = large volume for small mass, hydrophilic
GAGs = Acidic, negatively charged OH, COOH
What is the role of rubrospinal tract?
Voluntary movement of large muscles of limb
What is the role of corticospinal tract?
Controls muscles of limbs
What is the role of reticulospinal tract?
Involved in motor coordination, muscle tone, autonomic functions and pain
What is the role of vestibulospinal tract?
Posture and balance
What is the role of tectospinal tract?
Head and eye movement
What are the dorsal columns? (ascending funiculi)
Gracile and cuneate
What are the spinocerebellar columns? (ascending funiculi)
Dorsal and ventral
What are the spinothalamic columns? (ascending funiculi)
Lateral and anterior
