You then isolate a Drosophila mutant that fails to learn how to associate the light with bananas. You name this mutant, Dodo. After further analysis you discover that the mutation is in the gene coding for calmodulin and results in a non-functional protein. Make an hypothesis to explain how this mutation could result in the behavioral defects in Dodo mutants. In the movie, Brain Transplant , fetal tissues were used to treat the patients that had been poisoned by black tar heroin.
Current research focuses on the use of embryonic stem cells instead of cells derived from fetuses.
Explain how these treatments might affect synaptic transmission. The patients had symptoms resembling Parkinson's Disease which results from a decrease in dopamine neurotransmission. Unspecified fetal or embryonic stem cells transplanted into the basal ganglia of these patients could respond to local cues and differentiate as dopaminergic neurons, thus increasing the dopaminergic output and, relieving the symptoms. You are recording from the presynaptic terminal of a sensory neuron in the Aplysia siphon withdrawal reflex under voltage clamp conditions. Draw examples of the types of records you would obtain before and after sensitization.