Human Physiology Years 2

2nd year program:

Cellular Electrophysiology
Genesis of cell membrane potential and the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz model. Trans-membrane transport mechanisms: ionic channels, pumps and transporters. Common cell membrane properties, excitable cell passive and active membrane responses.

Neurophysiology
Neuronal action potential: axonal membrane response, ionic currents, sodium and potassium conductance variations, action potential propagation in axons with and without myelin. Synaptic transmission: chemical and electrical synapses, synaptic integration and modulation, neurotransmitters, second messengers.
Sensory receptors: functional properties of receptor cells, transduction mechanisms, coding of sensory information in the central nervous system. Spinal and trigeminal somesthesic sensitivity. Touch and Proprioception: tactile receptors, muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs, cortical somatosensory areas and their organization. Intensity, spatial and temporal discrimination. Temperature and Pain: receptors, central and trigeminal pathways of pain transmission, psychophysics of pain perception, pain modulation and integration, endogenous pain modulation mechanisms. Hearing: external ear, transmission and amplification of sound in the middle ear, cochlear tonotopy and stimulation of receptor cells, central pathways. Vestibular apparatus: receptors and their responses to linear and angular acceleration, central pathways. Vision: principles of physiological optics, retinal physiology and circuits, receptors, phototransduction, central pathways, cortical processing of visual information. Taste: transduction mechanisms, central pathways, psychophysics. Olfaction: transduction and coding of olfactory stimuli, central pathways, psychophysics.
Organization of movement. Skeletal and smooth muscle: structural and biochemical basis of muscular contraction, nervous control, neuromuscular transmission, motor units, force-length and force-speed relationships. Motor properties of brainstem and spinal cord: reflexes, automatic and rhythmical movements, locomotion. Posture: neural mechanisms, proprioceptive, vestibular and visual mechanisms of postural control, vestibular and cervical receptor interactions, movement related postural control. Corticospinal system: control of voluntary movement, cortical motor areas and their organization, cortical systems of motor control. Cerebellum and basal ganglia: structural organization of the cerebellum, neuronal circuits of basal ganglia, lesion effects, functional physiology.
Autonomic nervous system: sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, principles of vegetative innervation, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Hypothalamus: structure and function, temperature, endocrine and food ingestion regulation, behavioral control, vegetative functions.
Hemispheric specialization. Phonation and language. Learning and memory.
Electroencephalographic recordings and evoked potentials. Consciousness, arousal, physiology of sleep/wake cycle, circadian rhythms.

3rd year program:

Principles of fluid biophysics
Density, force, pressure - filling, hydrostatic, and propulsion pressures - compliance, elasticity static and kinetic forces. Pressure-tension relation in hollow organs. Laminar flow and turbulence. Flow and viscosity. Pressure-flow relation. Flow speed and resistance to flow. Gas diffusion law.

Circulatory System
Physical model of the circulatory system, circulating fluid. Heart excitation and contraction: cardiac spontaneous rhythmical activity, excitability and contraction of cardiac muscle cells. Principles of Electrocardiography (ECG): registration of ECG signals and their relation to intracellularly recorded cardiac cells potentials, derivation measurements, significance and interpretation of the ECG. Mechanical properties of the heart: functional heart anatomy; cardiac cycle in the left and right portions of the heart; central venous pressure and cardiac cycle; heart rate, duration of systolic and diastolic phases, and pressure-volume relation during the different phases. Cardiac output: definition, variability and measurements. Arteries and veins: structure, elastic properties of arteries, hemodynamics, nervous control. Capillaries, lymphatic vessels and balance of fluid exchanges: capillary microcirculation, interstitial space, lymphatic circulation, capillary filtration, Starling hypothesis of fluid exchanges. District circulation: tissue metabolic need and regulation, flow auto-regulation. Blood physiology: general principles, blood volume, composition, and distribution.

Respiratory System
Structure and functions: gas exchanges and other functions. Pulmonary ventilation: pulmonary volumes and their measurement. Respiratory mechanics: inspiration and expiration muscles; elastic properties of the lungs, pressure-volume relation, compliance and surface tension; surfactants; differences in regional ventilation and their causes; elastic properties of the thoracic wall; airway resistance and pressure variations during the respiratory cycle; work in respiration.
Diffusion of respiratory gases: limitations of diffusion and perfusion, transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide in pulmonary capillaries. Gas exchanges in peripheral organs: oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve, carbon dioxide. Pulmonary circulation: pressure inside and around pulmonary blood vessels, flow resistance in pulmonary vessels, distribution of blood flow and its measurement, hypoxic vasoconstriction, water balance in the lungs; differences in regional perfusion and their causes. Ventilation-perfusion relation: oxygen transport from air to tissues, hypoventilation and shunt, consequences of changes in the ventilation-perfusion ratio, regional gas exchanges in the lung.

Urinary System
Structure and function: filtration and reuptake in the kidney: filtration pressure, clearance, measurement of renal plasma flow and glomerular filtrate, glomerular filtration rate, maximal tubular transport rate, autoregulation. Juxtaglomerular apparatus. Mechanisms of tubular reuptake for water, ions, and organic substances. Tubular functions: proximal tubule, loop of Henle, distal nephron. Integrated renal functions: control of sodium excretion, urine dilution and concentration, renal proton excretion.

Digestive System
Structure and function: innervation of the gastrointestinal tract, hormones, motility, digestive functions, water and molecular exchanges. Deglutition and emesis. Saliva: composition, volume and functions; formation of primary saliva; nervous control of salivary secretion. Gastric digestion: stomach motility and digestion. Digestive action of gastric juice and regulation of its secretion, protective mechanisms of the gastric mucosa. Intestinal digestion and absorption: intestinal motility, digestive secretions, and intestinal digestion, intestinal bacterial flora. Principles of human nutrition.

Integrative Physiology and Homeostasis of the Internal Milieu
Control mechanisms of blood pressure: renal, hormonal, and nervous mechanisms (integration centers, afferent and efferent pathways). Regulation of cardiac output and venous return.
Control mechanisms of respiration: central control, receptors, effector cells, integrated responses.
Mechanisms of thermoregulation.
Control mechanisms of volume and osmolarity of bodily fluids: water, composition and osmolarity of bodily fluids, volume and osmolarity homeostasis.
Control of blood pH: metabolic production of acids, physiological buffers, H+ balance, acid-base alterations and compensation mechanisms.
Principles of endocrine physiology: hypothalamus-pituitary axis, thyroid and adrenal glands, glucose metabolism regulation, bone metabolism regulation, reproductive endocrine regulation.
Physiological response to stress.
Principles of neuroimmunology: bidirectional communication between nervous and immune systems.
Life in hypo- and hyper-baric conditions.
Physical exercise and principles of sport physiology.