Programs

running on all Windows platforms,
from Win XP to Win 10, 32 bit as well as 64 bit versions

problems with Win 10?
a) concerning hidden task bars of the Virtual Physiology programs in the full screen mode
b) concerning strange sound effects (only in very recent Win 10 versions appearing).

SimHeart©

offers a virtual laboratory for recordings of heart contractions in the Langendorff set-up
in response on the most relevant transmitters and drugs,
including a drug laboratory for the adjustment of the appropriate solutions.

Featured experiments: Effects of Adrenaline and Acetylcholine on frequency and amplitude of heart contractions (inotroph and chronotroph effects), effects of competitive receptor blockers Propranolol and Atropine, adrenaline dose-response curve and its shift by the ß-blocker Propranolol (competitive inhibition), comparison with non-competitive inhibition by the Ca2+-channel blocker Verapamil, strengthening of the contractions by the heart-glycoside g-Strophantine, induction and treatment of arrhythmias and heart blocks in systole and diastole.

for details see Tutorial and Protocol form download a fully functioning DEMO Version

SimVessel©

SimVessel offers a virtual laboratory for the examination of smooth muscle contractions of vessels and the intestine.
The experiments can be done with muscle stripes, placed in an organ bath to which physiologically relevant signal substances and widely used drugs can be added. Preparing the appropriate dilutions can be trained, as in SimHeart, in a drug laboratory.

Featured experiments: Comparison of phasic and tonic smooth muscle contractions. Illustrating the effects of muscle stretching (Bayliss effect) Demonstrating opposite reactions of vessels and intestine on Adrenaline and Acetylcholine. Examining the effects of the cholinergic receptor antagonist Atropine. Comparing the effects of adrenergic α- and β-receptor antagonists (Phentolamine and Propranolol). Illustrating the effects of the Ca2+-channel blocker Verapamil. Recording of dose-response curves of Adrenaline and Acetylcholine. Demonstrating alterations of dose-response curves by competitive and non-competitive inhibitors.

see Tutorial (preliminary version) Protocol form in preparation download a fully functioning DEMO Version

SimMuscle©

The virtual “SimMuscle” laboratory contains two nerve-muscle preparations and all the apparatus that you will need for experimentation in a simplified but quite realistic form. When entering the lab you first need to switch on all the devices (POWER buttons). Then drag one of two already prepared nerve-muscle preparations from the Petri-dish to hang it in the suspension apparatus. This includes a mechano-electrical converter transforming changes of either the muscle force or muscle length, selectable by a toggle switch, into an electric potential. You can pre-stretch the muscle hanging one or more weights in the loop at which the muscle is fixed. Muscle contractions are induced by current pulses delivered from a stimulation apparatus to the electrodes on which the nerve is placed. Stimuli as well as muscle contractions are displayed on a dual beam storage oscilloscope, appropriately displayed with accordingly adjusted voltage amplification and time base (via the rotary switches) and zero lines. Single or double pulses as well as trains of stimuli of selectable amplitude and intervals can be applied. The example shows muscle contractions, here changes of the muscle length, in response to different trains of voltage pulses inducing isolated twitches, incomplete and complete tetanic contractions depending on the intervals in which the pulses are applied.

Featured experiments: Single twitches and their stimulus dependencies (recruitement of motor units), superposition of single twitches, tetanic contractions, resting tension curves (pre-stretching), curves of isometric and isotonic maxima, muscle fatigue.

for details see Tutorial and Protocol form For your own experiments you can download a fully functioning DEMO Version

SimNerv©

In the “SimNerv” laboratory you will find a stimulator, an oscilloscope, a recording chamber and a Petri dish with two already prepared nerves. For your measurements take one of the nerves by mouse click out of the Petri-dish and place it on the electrodes in the recording chamber. The position of the electrodes can be changed and the temperature of the recording chamber can be adjusted. You can set a nerve ligature (fully reversible) using the thread. The stimulator delivers voltage pulses to the stimulation electrodes. The stimulus is simultaneously displayed at channel 1 of the oscilloscope via a separate cable..AMPLITUDE and DURATION of the stimulus pulses can be adjusted as well as the DELAY between the onsets of two successive stimuli when TWIN pulses shall be applied (MODE). The POLARITY switch allows to invert the direction of the current flow, INVERT corresponds to an exchange of the stimulus electrode positions. The simple double-beam storage oscilloscope displays the stimulus pulse (channel 1), simultaneously with the compound action potential (CAP, channel 2) measured as the potential difference between the two recording electrodes by means of a differential amplifier. The sensitivity of both oscilloscope channels (mV/DIV) as well as their common time-base (ms/DIV) can be adjusted via the rotary switches.

Featured experiments: Stimulus-response curve: recruitment of nerve fibres on increasing stimulus amplitudes Strength-duration curve, rheobase, chronaxy: the impact of stimulus duration Refractory period and anode break potentials: physiological and clinical relevance of Na+-channel inactivation: Conduction velocity and the effect of temperature changes Recordings of bi- and mono-phasic action potentials using reversible nerve ligatures, Demonstrating the clinically most relevant impact of appropriate electrode positions, Understanding the difference between intra- and extracellular recordings.

for details see Tutorial and Protocol form For your own experiments you can download a fully functioning DEMO Version

SimNeuron©

virtual laboratories for voltage- and current-clamp experiments in an easy to overlook lab design

+ towards a better understanding of the relations between ion currents and action potential generation,
+ including a neuron editor showing the full set of the neuron parameters.

Featured experiments: Determine the threshold of action potential generation in the current-clamp lab. Examine the effects of amplitude and duration of the current stimulus. Induction of a series of action potentials of different frequencies. Comparison of action potentials with local potentials and purely passive potential changes. Understanding the effects of the Na-channel blocker TTX and K+-channel blocker TEA. Display and explain the alterations of ionic conductances and currents during an action potential. Recordings of ion currents in the voltage-clamp lab with and without RC compensation. Application of the Na+-channel blocker TTX and K+-channel blocker TEA. Estimation of the activation (and inactivation) time constants. Determining the reversal potentials of Na+- and K+-currents. (tail currents). Constructing current-voltage (I-V) curves and calculation of the voltage dependencies of ion channel activation.

for details see Tutorial and Protocol form download a fully functioning DEMO Version

For the experts: Use the Neuron Editor to examine the effects of different membrane parameters on the neuron’s sensitivity, e.g. with alterations of voltage- and time-dependencies of ion current activation and inactivation, leak conductances, ion concentrations, etc. Examine how a neuron at constant resting potential can be transferred into a pacemaker neuron. Pre-Settings: In fully licensed versions there is the possibility to select to which specific features of the program the students shall have access. This can be done in so-called pre-settings window which you can open from the labs via the SETTINGS button in the switch bank. In demo versions the pre-settings are fixed with most functions enabled.