Case Study

433 Words2 Pages
A 17-year-old male was working vigorously on a summer construction crew building a new section of a freeway. In the intense heat of the day, he began to experience severe pain in the muscles of his limbs. The cramping made his muscles feel like hard knots. The foreman of the crew instructed the young man to drink some salt water he had available and rest a while. 1. What is the cause of the cramping? (2 points) Dehydration and ion imbalances 2. Why is the ingestion of salt and water beneficial? (2 points) The ingestion of salt is to help from the sweating of working a hard laborious day, replacing ions. Water is to help from the dehydration. Prior to intubation for a surgical procedure, the anesthesiologist administered a single dose of a neuromuscular blocking agent, succinylcholine, to a 23-year-old male to provide muscular relaxation during surgery and to facilitate the insertion of the endotracheal tube. Following this, the inhalation anesthetic was administered and the surgical procedure completed. 1. Beginning with an impulse from a motor neuron at the neuromuscular junction, describe the normal sequence of events which lead to muscle contraction (ending with myosin binding actin that causes shortening of the sarcomere). (7 points) Impulse action potential from the Central Nerve System (CNS) to the Motor Neuron sends a vesicle of neurotransmitter which is acetylcholine (ach), from the Motor Neuron between the synaptic gap to the motor end plate of a sarcolemma, that stimulates the Sarcolemma to send a pulse in all directions into the Transverse tubules, which then stimulates the sarcoplasmic reticulum to release calcium, Calcium then diffuses out of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, binds troponin, which alters the shape and position of tropomyosin, which exposes the binding site of actin, and then myosin and actin bind shortening the sarcomere
Open Document