Lecture 2, Monday, September 8:   Bioassay

Goals:

We'll review the ways that cells use chemicals to communicate with each other.

You'll learn one way in which these chemicals may be measured, based on the biological response to the chemical that's being studied. 

You should already know:

We're going to use thyroid hormone as an example, so be familiar with what it does, where it comes from, how its secretion is controlled by the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland.  You can review this in Sherwood (4th edition: 649-657 and 669-675;  5th edition: 683-689 and 701-707 or in any introductory biology text, such as Purves et al.'s Life 717-723 (shorter!) on reserve in the Biology Library.

You should also recall the different methods by which cells communicate with each other.  This is summarized in Fig 3-21, p. 71 of Sherwood (4th ed) and Fig 3-7, p. 65 (5th ed), and the accompanying text.

Lecture:

Intercellular communication
Berthold's experiment
Bioassay 

Slides

  • Method A This lets you see the slides quickly, with no animation
  • Method B 
  • Method CYou should be able to see animations here, just click on the slide to advance
  • Method D 

Reading:

Sherwood: 
no reading on this topic

Other reading:   
"Common techniques in behavioral endocrinology", pages 18-23, An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology, by Randy Nelson.  Describes Berthold's experiment, bioassay, radioimmunoassay.

Recent research:   
Catnip repels mosquitoes more effectively than DEET
  Used a mosquito bioassay to study this.

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts
Describe the different types of signaling molecules, and give an example of each.
Suppose you were performing a bioassay for testosterone.  Describe how you would use castrated roosters, both for developing a dose-response curve and for testing the amount of testosterone in an unknown sample.

Problem solving
Handout 2B is to remind you what you learned about thyroid hormone secretion.  Based on these relationships, describe how you would devise a bioassay for TSH.
Problem Set 1:  Questions 16, 18

     Lecture 3, Wednesday, September 10:   Radioimmunoassay

Goals:

You'll learn a second way to measure hormone concentrations, this one based on the ability of the hormone to bind to specific antibodies.  Development of this technique led to a Nobel Prize for Rosalyn Yalow.

You should already know:

... general structure of antibodies.  See Figure 12-11 in Sherwood (5th ed: p. 426; 4th ed: p. 403).

Lecture:

Bioassay

  • Pregnancy test
  • Advantages and disadvantages
Radioimmunoassay
ELISA

Slides

  • Method A This lets you see the slides quickly, with no animation
  • Method B 
  • Method CYou should be able to see animations here, just click on the slide to advance
  • Method D 

Reading:

Sherwood: 
no reading on this topic

Other reading:   
"Common techniques in behavioral endocrinology", see link above.
"Radioimmunoassay", pages 828-830, Berne & Levy, Physiology, 3rd ed, 1993.
ELISA animation A little different from the kind I described in class
Radioimmunoassay and ELISA from Texas A&M 

Medical reference:
Common tests to examine thyroid gland function
, includes several RIAs.  Can you find three errors in the two sentences that describe RIAs?

Biography:   
Rosalyn Yalow won the Nobel Prize in 1977 for developing radioimmunoassay with Solomon Berson 

Assignment:

 Assignment #1 is due today.

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts
What are the advantages and disadvantages of bioassays?  Of radioimmunoassays?
Describe the radioimmunoassay and bioassay techniques using words rather than using the diagrams on your handout.

Problem solving
Problem Set 1:  Questions 15, 17

 

     Lecture 4, Monday, September 15:   Male reproductive system

Goals:

Understand where sperm are produced and how they leave the body
Be able to describe the hormones of the male reproductive system and how their secretion is controlled. 

You should already know:

... general principles of endocrinology, including how the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland work together to control other glandular secretions. .

Lecture:

Male reproductive anatomy

Mini-exam #1

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th ed: Fig 20-1;  756-766
4th ed:  Fig 20-1; 721-730

Other reading:   
Tissue engineers grow penis in the lab New Scientist, September 2002
Tissue engineers grow penis - with feeling, New Scientist, April 2003

Biography:
1982 Nobel Prize awarded for discovery of prostaglandins

Medical reference:
The Complete Guide to the Penis
, and more about men's health

Assignment:

 Assignment #1 is definitely due today.

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts
Pretend you are a newly produced sperm.  Describe the path you'll take to leave the body.

 

     Lecture 5, Wednesday, September 17:   Female reproductive system

Goals:

Be able to describe the anatomy and hormones of the male and female reproductive systems and how their secretion is controlled. 

You should already know:

... general principles of endocrinology, including how the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland work together to control other glandular secretions. .

Lecture:

Sperm production
Male reproductive endocrinology
Female reproductive anatomy & endocrinology

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th ed: Fig 20-2;  770-780
4th ed: 
Fig 20-2 and 734-743

Other reading: 

Poetry:
Brendan Galvin, Fear of Gray's Anatomy BioMedNet.  Do you mind that your body parts seem to belong to others? Cells of Leydig, tubes of Fallopius? Gray's classical anatomy textbook was a disappointment for this poet.
 

Medical reference:

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts

Problem Solving

Problem Set #2

 

     Lecture 6, Monday, September 22:   Female reproductive system

Goals:

Be able to describe the changes that occur in the ovary and the uterus over the course of the menstrual cycle. 

You should already know:

... the word follicle

Lecture:

Female reproductive anatomy 
Ovarian cycle
Uterine cycle

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th ed: Fig 20-2;  770-780
4th ed:  Fig 20-2 and 734-743

Recent research: 
Sperm use heat sensors to find the egg  Science Daily, Jan 2003

History:
Artificial anatomy: Papier-mache anatomical models
Dream anatomy Online exhibit from the National Library of Medicine
Drawing of ectopic pregnancy, from a 1669 book by Reinier de Graaf, who first described ovarian follicles, which he thought were eggs

Medical reference:
Ectopic pregnancy
Special health concerns of women from the Columbia University Complete Home Medical Guide
Using foods against menstrual pain
Mittelschmerz 

Animations of menstrual cycle:

How stuff works  Visualize hormones as bar graphs instead of line graphs
Menstrual cycle animation by Michael Parker

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts

Problem Solving
Problem Set #2

 

     Lecture 7, Wednesday, September 24:   Female reproductive system

Goals:

Hormones of the menstrual cycle

Lecture:

Gonadal hormone effects on the uterus
Hormones of the menstrual cycle

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th ed: Fig 20-2;  770-780
4th ed:  Fig 20-2 and 734-743

Other reading:
Female reproductive endocrinology from the Merck Manual

Recent research:
Something in the armpits, Penn Gazette, April 2003.  Male sweat affects women's hormones

Poetry:
poem in praise of menstruation, by Lucille Clifton

Medical reference:
Gynecologic health, from the Mayo Clinic
Contraception from the Merck Manual

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts

Problem solving  
Problem Set 3

 

     Lecture 8, Monday, September 29:   Sexual differentiation

Goals:

 

Lecture:

Levels of sexual differentiation
   Genetic sex
   Gonadal sex
   Hormonal sex

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th edition: 753-756
4th edition: 718-721

Recent research:
Deleting gene changes sex of mice

Medical reference:
Klinefelter's syndrome support group
Turner's syndrome support group

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts

 

     Lecture 9, Wednesday, October 1:   Sexual differentiation

Goals:

 

Lecture:

Disorders of differentiation:
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
5-alpha reductase deficiency
Mini-Exam #2

Slides

Reading:

Sherwood: 
5th edition: 753-756 Figure 19-11  p. 713 for CAH = adrenogenital syndrome
4th edition: 718-721 Figure 19-10 for CAH = adrenogenital syndrome

Other reading:
Guevodoces
Intersex Society of North America Best source of information on this topic, by people with these conditions; includes definitions and frequency of different intersex conditions, and medical and legal ramifications.
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome support group. Includes personal stories detailing how AIS women felt about the way doctors and parents dealt with them.
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Ambiguous sex or ambivalent medicine.  Alice Dreger examines ethics of treating intersex conditions.

The true story of John/Joan The Rolling Stone, December 11, 1997. Pages 54-97, by John Colapinto, author of As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl

Fiction:  
Middlesex
  Review of the book by Jeffrey Eugenides

Poetry:  
Paul Revere's Ride
  "through every Middlesex village and farm"

Animations:

Shown in lecture:
Male genital development in utero

Differentiation of male and female genitals

Others:
How is sex determined?

Test yourself:

Nuts and Bolts

Problem solving  
Problem Set 4
  Problem Set 4a