The Frog Dissection Home Page
Welcome to the Frog Dissection Manual for the
Quantitative Physiology: Cells and Tissues course.
This manual was created to help students with the first laboratory exercise
in the Quantitative Physiology: Cells and Tissues course (also known
as 6.021J/2.791J/HST545). It should be studied before attending the lab on the
assigned day.
General precautions
The following general precautions will ensure a safe dissection of a viable sciatic nerve.
- You should wear rubber gloves if you handle the animals.
- Use the bluntest instrument that will accomplish the
job. Finer instruments often cause unwanted damage, rupture blood
vessels, etc.
- Cut parallel to the nerve. It is elastic but is easily cut if
approached perpendicularly.
- Never close the jaws of the scissors without visual confirmation that
the nerve will not be cut.
- Keep the nerve wet with Ringer's solution (not with blood)
at all times during the dissection.
- At no time should the nerve be picked up or pinched with forceps.
- Handling should always be done by very gentle lifting the nerve on a blunt
dissection instrument or by gently pulling on an attached thread.
- Excessive stretching will destroy conduction of action potentials
in the nerve fibers - do not stretch the nerve.
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