Question

Imagine you are studying the activity of neurons in a mouse that is awake and interacting with other mice. If you knew that an excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) occurred, you _______ predict whether it would increase or decrease the likelihood of a particular behavior happening. You do, however, know that the neurons you are studying could be releasing ___________ because it is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that generally depolarizes postsynaptic neurons. If you wanted to study what happens when neurons are unable to make this particular neurotransmitter you could use ___________, which is a method that prevents your gene of interest from being translated.

Group of answer choices

Could; GABA; Immunohistochemistry

Could; Glutamate; Anterograde tracing

Could not; GABA; Electron microscopy

Could not; Glutamate; Antisense oligonucleotides

Answer 1

Ans.

• Imagine you are studying the activity of neurons in a mouse that is awake and interacting with other mice.
• If you knew that an excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) occurred, you could not predict whether it would increase or decrease the likelihood of a particular behavior happening.
• You do, however, know that the neurons you are studying could be releasing glutamate because it is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that generally depolarizes postsynaptic neurons.
• In the nervous system, glutamte is the most prevalent and major excitatiry neurotransmitter and is strategically located on many types of cell and converge on the glutamate synapse.
• It can bind to several post-synaptic receptors, such as AMPA receptor, kinate receptors and NMDA receptor.
• If you wanted to study what happens when neurons are unable to make this particular neurotransmitter you could use antisense oligonucleotides, which is a method that prevents your gene of interest from being translated.
• These antisense oligonucleotides are synthetically made DNA oligomers, that in a sequence specific fashion hybridize to target RNA of interest.
• Apart from inhibiting the genes expression, these antisense oligonucleotides are also used for modulating precursor mRNA splicing or miRNA inactivation.