501735 - PHYSIOLOGY

courses

ID:

501735

Duration (hours):

48

CFU:

SSD:

FISIOLOGIA

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (02/03/2026 - 12/06/2026)

Course Objectives

The educational objectives of the course are:
1. Know, understand, and remember the basis of cellular communication (carriers, ionic channels, membrane receptors, simple diffusion mechanism, and so on.) and the basis of the muscular contraction;
2. Be able to apply the acquired knowledge in different disciplinary context;
3. Achieved autonomy in critically reading, understanding and evaluating scientific literature in the field of Cellular Physiology;
4. Be able to communicate the knowledge learned in the specific field with a correct scientific language and scientific rigor;
5. To have acquired the cultural tools to allow the independent study of other topics related to the Cellular Physiology.

Course Prerequisites

The course consists of two parts. The first introduces students to the study of physiology, and, specifically, to training in the field of Cellular Physiology. In order to acquire the relative knowledge, the student is required to have adequate knowledge of the chemical structure of the main biomolecules and of the structure of the cell membrane. These concepts will however be taken up again at the beginning of the course in a preliminary review of the course content.
The second module introduces organ physiology. Prerequisites are the same as for the first module.

Teaching Methods

The following teaching methods and strategies will be used:
• Frontal lessons
• Update seminaries
• Watching video
New teaching methodologies are also used, such as: case-based teaching, problem-based teaching, mock trials.

Assessment Methods

The exam consists of an oral exam at the end of the course.in which the student will have to demonstrate that he has gained knowledge on the topics dealt with during the lessons and has processed the information by operating logic links.

Texts

FISIOLOGIA, D. U. Silverthorn, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana

COURSE PROGRAM
First section
 Introduction to the study of Physiology
 Different organization levels to the study of Physiology
 The intracellular and extracellular environment
 Control systems and homeostasis
 The plasma membrane and the exchange of matter and energy inside and outside.
 Ion channels: structure and function, ion channel systematic. The study of ion channels: patch-clamp. Analysis of bioelectric signals. The channelopathy
 carriers: structure and function
 Active and passive transports
 Water flows
 Osmotic pressure
 Absorbent and secreting epithelia. Trans epithelial transports
 Intercellular communication: gap junctions, paracrine and autocrine signals
 Membrane receptors and signal transduction pathways
 Excitable cells:
 Neurons
 Skeletal muscle cells
 Smooth muscle cells
 Cardiac muscle cells
 Electrical properties of the cellular membrane:
 Ionic gradients
 Generation of electrical signals
 Resting membrane potential
 Action potential. Examples and analysis of experimental data
 Signals transmission into axons
 Chemical synapses
 Electrical synapses
 Neuromuscular junction
 Sensory Physiology: General Principle of sensory trasduction.
 The muscle:
 Skeletal muscle
 Mechanism of muscle contraction
 Excitation and contraction coupling
 Regulation of muscle strength development
 Type of muscle fibres
 Muscle metabolism
 Smooth muscle
 Cardiac muscle

Second Section
* Cardiovascular system
* Respiratory system
* Renal system
* Digestive system