The Systems Biology of COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The class will build a foundation that includes the emergence of complexity, simple biological subsystems, their reductionist and equivalent toy and organ-chip models, and the measurements required to specify model architecture and parameters. Applications to biology, physiology, medicine, chemical and biological defense, pharmacology, drug discovery, and toxicology. UGrad: PHYS 240 01 and BME 290B; Grad: PHYS 326 and BME 395C.
0) What I already knew:
ReplyDeleteI knew much of the general overview information about the autonomic nervous system, such as its functional role in regulating heart rate/digestion/respiration and other homeostatic variables. Through other classes I also had exposure to some of the neuroendocrine aspects of the autonomic system, specifically how the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary, adrenal glands, and autonomic system interact to produce fight/flight response.
1) What I learned:
It was interesting to learn some of the more detailed structure of the autonomic nervous system, specifically the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. I learned that the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord correspond to the sympathetic nervous system, and the sacral region corresponds to neurons from the parasympathetic nervous system. In addition, it was interesting to learn that the autonomic nervous system has a sequential two-neuron efferent path such that a preganglionic neuron synapses onto a postganglionic neuron which synapses onto the organ.
2): Most pressing questions:
How does the autonomic nervous system interact with or regulate the immune system? To what extent is this interaction present in the gut-brain axis?
3) Presentation Topic:
Neuroendocrine system of the gut-brain axis
4) Overall Thoughts:
I thought this Wikipedia article provided a really good holistic overview of neuronal control of the overall human body and an intro to gut neuronal control. I'm really interested to study the nervous control of the gut-brain axis more in-depth, and also observe how the gut-brain axis is composed of humoral interactions. I'm curious to see how our upcoming class discussions will dissect the degree of dominance of each in the gut-brain axis.
0,1) Good
Delete2) Excellent question that someone needs to answer.
3) Yes
4)exactly
0) Knew: I knew the brain is a source of conscious and less conscious automatic processes and the rest of the nerves in the body serve to connect the brain to tissues and enable various degrees of control and feedback. This "wiring" is interspaced with ganglia and other local feedback systems that often allow for regulation of a particular system with little or no input from the rest of the CNS.
ReplyDelete1) Learned: It's been so long since I looked at this stuff that it was all somewhat new to me.
2) Pressing??: What is the diversity within ganglia? Do they have a single purpose, or do they do process things? Is it accurate to think of them as micro controllers?
3) Presentation: Pre-ganglia/post-ganglia synapses and what that means within a tissue or organ (examples).
4) Thoughts: I can see why this was assigned. With regards to the class project, understanding ANS structure will be needed to determine which parts(or functions) should be included(or simulated),and how they might be integrated, regulated and balanced. The general idea I get is that ANS components can act as balancing forces within any given tissue through feedback between the sympathetic and parasympathetic within ganglia and the brain.
0,1) OK
Delete2) Check them out and report back in a comment! They are doing a lot of processing.
3) Yes
4) Exactly. This is going to get complicated.
0) KNEW
ReplyDeleteI knew the breakup of the autonomic nervous system, with the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and some enteric. I knew about the structure of the ANS, with the pre- and post-ganglionic neurons.
1) LEARNED
I learned a bit more about the innervation of the sympathetic division.
2) QUESTION
3) PRESENTATION
Enteric nervous system
4) THOUGHTS
I feel like this was a pretty good overview of the ANS, most of which I knew. Compared to how I learned this previously, I feel like it skipped over some of the basics, while also going strangely into detail about some of the innervation
Autonomic Nervous System
ReplyDelete0. I have learned about the autonomic nervous system in some physiology courses I’ve taken in the past and generally understood how this system controls various functions like vasomotor activity. I knew that the sympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the “fight or flight” system and that the parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the “rest and digest” system.
1. I always forget that the enteric nervous system is sometimes included as part of the ANS. It was usually briefly mentioned in my physiology courses, but we would mostly focus on the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
2. I’m mostly trying to think of how we can incorporate these systems into a gut-brain axis-on-a-chip model. Are there differentiation protocols for making these types of neurons from iPSCs? I think the development of these systems is fairly well known, so I’ll try to incorporate this into my brain development presentation if I find any information about this. How can we simulate vasoconstriction/dilation in our model, and is it even necessary to model this in our project?
3. It might be useful to have a presentation of what occurs at the synapses of these neurons. It might become important when we model the gut-brain axis to have this background.
4. This was a nice refresher on some parts of the nervous system that I don’t usually think about. It will be interesting to see how we can incorporate this into our gut-brain axis-on-a-chip.
0) What I Already Knew: Practically nothing.
ReplyDelete1) Most Important Thing I Learned: The sympathetic nervous system is excitatory and tends to be faster while the parasympathetic nervous system is inhibitory and tends to be slower.
2) How do the sympathetic and parasympathetic communicate with each other? Is there a typical time-scale for these interactions?
3) Vagus Nerve
4) I'm curious about the seemingly oscillatory nature of the functions of the autonomic nervous system.
0) Knew
ReplyDeleteI knew that there exists such part of the nervous system that do things unconsciously or in the 'periphery'.
1) Learned
2) Question
Among the general knowledge I picked up from the wiki page, I find it interesting why decaffeinated expresso actually inhibits parasympathetic activity in habitual caffeine consumers.
3) Presentation
Go into more details for a particular inhibitory or excitatory effect e.g. vascular effect
4) Thoughts
I was eating lunch as I read the article so it was fun to try to 'think' about all the parasympathetic activities as I digested.
0) What I already knew
ReplyDeleteThe autonomic nervous system is a division of the peripheral nervous system influencing the function of internal organs. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response. It is composed of enteric, sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
1) The most important think I learned
A more modern characterization is that the sympathetic nervous system is a "quick response mobilizing system" and the parasympathetic is a "more slowly activated dampening system”.
2) My most pressing question from the reading
Will both sympathetic and parasympathetic systems be in feedback control? Will one of the system be able to directly produce input signals to limbic system to modulate its activity?
3) A suggestion for a class discussion
Limbic system with respect to ANS
4) Any thoughts that you might have on the class or paper
Wikipedia is pretty conclusive and up-to date, at least better than some textbooks I used.
0) What I already knew
ReplyDeleteI know the basic division of the autonomic nervous system into sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric, and the functions of each division because of my systems physiology class that I am currently taking.
1) What I learned
We didn't really discuss the enteric nervous system in my physiology class, so now I know that it is like the "second" brain of the body. It controls peristalsis, contraction and relaxation of muscles, and regulates secretions in the gut.
2) Most pressing questions
Why is there an entire section in this article on caffeine...It is interesting that caffeine affects the parasympathetic nervous system differently based on what position your body is in.
How are non-cholinergic receptors integral to in autonomic function in the gut?
3) Suggestion for presentation topic
The role of non-cholinergic receptors in the gut
4) Thoughts
I always like reading about concepts in science on Wikipedia before delving into a textbook because Wikipedia summarizes the main points well.
0: I knew about the division of the autonomic nervous system into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic and their association with fight and flight vs rest and digest.
ReplyDelete1: The sympathetic nervous system is housed mainly in the ganglia within the lateral grey column and the parasympathetic is in the cranial nerves and the sacral spinal cord. Also the enteric nervous system is considered part of the autonomic nervous system.
2: The wiki page talked extensively about how caffeine interacts with the ANS. What other drugs have significant effects on the ANS?
Can the enteric nervous system affect the ANS directly? If so, how?
3: Drugs that affect the ANS
4: ANS is important to think about since ANS has a large effect on someone's behavior.
0) Knew: The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary functions and responses, includes the cranial nerves, and is broken up into sympathetic and parasympathetic systems that counteract one another (fight or flight/rest and digest).
ReplyDelete1) Learned: cranial nerve 10/X, or the vagus nerve, primarily controls parasympathetic control of the gut, while sympathetic control is left to the splanchnic nerves. So the vagus nerve is responsible for peristalsis and digestion, and these functions can be inhibited by sympathetic response.
2) Question: What does the normal metabolism of necessary neurotransmitters for the peripheral nervous system look like, and would these molecules need to be regulated in a gut chip, regardless of presence of actual neurons? (acetylcholine, epinephrine)
3) Presentation: Acetylcholine metabolism. Maybe a model of how it reaches peripheral neurons.
4) A gut chip with no sympathetic nervous capabilities would just always be in a "rest and digest" state. Is that okay? Once you add nerves, do you have to have something that acts as an adrenal medulla to release epinephrine regularly to modulate nerve activity? How much of this becomes outside control vs things that the gut-brain-axis-on-a-chip can regulate itself (realistically)?