Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Laboratory Techniques - In vitro organ bath experiment

HELLO PEOPLE! THIS IS ADDITIONAL POST FROM RENEE!!

hahaha! just feel like sharing another skill that i have learnt during my attachment - that is ORGAN BATH!

In-vitro organ bath is actually a set-up for us to conduct experiments on muscle strips. The muscle strips are either obtained from humans or laboratory animals and placed into the organ baths for isometric or isotonic measurement.

Isotonic measurement would estimate the variation in length of the muscle tissue without any change in tension, while isometric measurement would study the tension that is accumulated within muscle tissues without any visible change in the length of the tissue.

In my experiment, we take the isometric measurement of the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle under the influence of my test drug. We do this because a relaxation in the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle would mean erection, and therefore, we want to see if the drug actually causes decreased tension in the corpus cavernosum.

What i did was to pre-contract the corpus cavernosum strips with noradrenaline, which is a drug that would cause increase tension in the corpus cavernosum. After that, i add in cumulative concentrations of the drug that i am testing to see if there is a decrease in tension.

What i hypothesize to get would be concentration dependent decrease in corpus cavernosum tension, so that i would be able to get a dose response curve.

Photobucket

Picture retrieved from : http://www.currentprotocols.com/protocol/ph0403

This is the schematic diagram of an organ bath. The tissue is tied with a thread and mounted onto the organ bath. Tissue is bathed in tyrode solution and bubbled with oxygen and carbon dioxide. Drugs are added into the solution.

Thats all folks.
feel free to ask me questions: ))

Love
Renee
TG02
0703634F

2 comments:

  1. Are there any other methods of measuring isometric contaction on isolated muscle? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this in vitro organ bath technique for isometric muscle testing?

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  2. Hi! This is URGENT! I'm working on a thesis and would very much like to use this pictures. Can I refer to this page or to the link you are referring to - in that case: how did you do that?

    Best wishes. Thank you on forehand.

    ReplyDelete