Experiment Ten: Oxygen and Spiking

Oxygen is an “oxidizer”, greedy for electrons

Life forms evolved to harness oxygen’s electron-grabbing power, with “aerobic activity” (breathing) a necessary part of their existence.

Body breaks down glucose through complicated series of dozens of reactions

Take home - three main reaction pathways: Glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation.

The oxidative phosphorylation pathway leads directly to ATP energy production

Electron exchange excess H+ ions outside mitochondria membrane ionic imbalance power ATP synthase convert ADP to ATP

The hard way to test spike dependence on oxygen

Would require a couple of gas tanks (Oxygen and inert Argon), some regulators, some tubing, and an airtight container to titrate the amount

of oxygen in the container. Or…

The easy way to test spike dependence on oxygen

Liberally coat the leg with petroleum jelly to “starve” the leg of new oxygen. Requires only basic equipment that we readily have at hand

Procedure: table to record how long neurons can spike in absence of oxygen…

…and how long it takes for the spikes to return once oxygen is restored