BI 335

Critical Thinking Assignment 

1.  What effect might change in the pH of body fluids or body temperature that accompany illness have on cells?

2.  Michael P.  was very weak from birth, with poor muscle tone, difficulty in breathing, and great fatigue.  By his third month, he began having seizures.  Michael’s medical tests were normal except for one:  his cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that bates the brain and spinal cord) was unusually high in glucose.  Hypothesizing that the boy could not produce enough ATP, doctors gave him a diet rich in certain fatty acids that caused the cellular respiration pathway to resume at the point of acetyl CoA formation.  Michael rapidly improved.  Explain what caused his symptoms.

3.  In cyanide poisoning, levels of ATP in the brain plummet, but levels of lactic acid increase markedly.  Explain how both effects occur.

4.  A student is accustomed to running 3 miles at a leisurely jogging pace.  In a fitness class, she has to run a mile as fast as she can.  Afterward, she is winded and has sharp pains in her chest and leg muscles.  What has she experienced, in terms of energy metabolism?