Back to Teachers page ABLE

.....................................

Our educational module offers a new approach to studying cardiovascular function by utilizing a high-interest topic. The effects on heart function of endotoxin-related septicemia (Lipopolysaccharides, LPS) from gram-negative bacteria is examined. Research on LPS is abundant in the area of neuroscience and neuromuscular junction activity. However, little is known about its effects on cardiac tissue. We have developed and piloted several hands-on laboratory exercises including simple heartbeat counts (HR) to a more advanced electrical recording of diastolic and systolic periods with in-situ hearts. Furthermore, the laboratory module is highly flexible: we have adapted this module to both the frog and larval Drosophila melanogaster. The flexibility of this module also makes it adaptive to different classroom and laboratory settings, including CUREs courses. The utilization of comparative laboratory exercises combined with primary literature reviews can be used to foster a deeper understanding of the diversity of cardiovascular mechanisms possible among animals. Finally, this module contains pedagogical support for instructors interested in open inquiry and active learning approaches. Participants will learn how to dissect larval D. melanogaster to monitor heart rate. We show the frog heart dissection in a series of steps to help if the lab is taught remotely or as a hybrid. We will go over the implementation experiences we incurred conducting these exercises with 25 students and 12 stations. We will share the data sets and go over the discussion of the developed module.

ABLE Poster

ABLE paper- draft

Movie to go along with poster MP4 file

Resources: Papers and web links

diagram of nerves to heart frog.jpeg

diagram of nerves to heart frog.ppt

LPS on HR and force beta test. ppt

How to change saline in the dish for the Drosophila-movie

Cooper, A.S., Rymond, K.E., Ward, M.A., Bocook, E.L. and Cooper, R.L. (2009) Monitoring heart function in larval Drosophila melanogaster for physiological studies. Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). 32: http://www.jove.com/index/details.stp?id=1596 , Text part of video article [PDF].

Participants designing this content are:

Jate Bernard, Melody Danley and Robin L. Cooper- 675 Rose St., Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225 USA.

Rebecca M. Krall and Katherine A. Sharp - Rm 105 Taylor Education Bldg, 597 S. Upper St, Department of STEM Education, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40406-0001, USA.