IVY C. IMPERIAL BS.

BIOLOGY 4-2 SCIATIC NERVE IN FROG Introduction

AUGUST 18, 2012 LABORATORY REPORT #

A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of axons in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses that are transmitted along each of the axons to peripheral organs. The nerve impulse evoked by stimulation of a nerve is a collective event recorded as it engages as many fibers as may be recruited by the intensity of the stimulus. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the human body. It is 3/4-inch thick and runs from the lower back near the spine down into the feet. The sciatic nerve enables movement and feeling in the lower back, hips, thighs, knees, ankles, feet and toes. Objectives This study enables the students to be familiar with the procedure for preparing the frog gastrocnemius muscle and its sciatic nerve. Materials and methods The materials used were: dissecting pan, dissecting kit, NaCl solution, and frog. After pithing the frog, the frogs skin was then removed. Isolation of the sciatic nerve was then followed. Results and Discussion The sciatic nerve is a large bundle of many nerve fibers. The fibers come out between vertebrae at the caudal end of the vertebral column. The nerve of the frog is dissected from its origin at the spinal cord as 3-4 bundles of the sciatic plexus, all the way to the gastrocnemius muscle. There the nerve divides into two branches, one to each head of the muscle. As we proceed distally along the nerve, from the plexus, we find fibers leaving the main trunk and entering muscles and skin. Therefore, having fewer fibers, the distal end of the nerve is of smaller diameter than the proximal end at the plexus. The fibers that normally carry impulses from the central nervous system (CNS) outward to the periphery to muscles and skin are efferent or motor. Impulses normally move toward the

CNS along afferent or sensory fibers from peripherally located sensory receptors in muscle and skin. Afferent fibers are dendrites, and efferent fibers are axons, but any peripheral nerve fiber of unspecified nature is commonly called an axon. If the nerve is stimulated at the proximal end, impulses travel in the normal direction (orthodromically) in the efferent fibers but antidromically in the afferent fibers. That is, impulse propagation can be induced to proceed equally well in either direction along a nerve fiber. Advantage is taken of this fact in the sciatic nerve taken out of a frog leg.

References http://www.bio.fsu.edu/easton/topic13.html http://www.ask.com/questions-about/what-is-the-function-of-the-sciatic-nerve http://answers.ask.com/Health/Diseases/what_is_the_sciatic_nerve