The Shakespearean Experiment

"To contract, or not to contract: that is the question."

Today we had contractile response lab,

where we had a tiny piece of pig bladder tissue

and we were supposed to make it contract

using this drug Carbachol in increasing concentrations.

Before we started the actual experiment, however,

we had to test that the tissue actually could give a response

(no point pushing drugs into it only to find it doesnt respond, right?)

So we tested the tissue by stimulating it with potassium chloride, KCl,

which, should actually induce a contraction.

Round 1 of KCl... no response

Round 2 of KCl... no response (sigh)

Round 3 of KCl... still no contraction. -.----

sai hei.

Asked for a new sample of tissue

("we think this one is dead", lol)

By the time they hooked us up with a new piece of meat,

one and a half hours was gone :(

and we still had to wait 20 minutes

for the new piece to settle down and get comfortable.

sigh.

finally, after 15 minutes,

and the recordings look fairly stable

and we were about to launch a new round of KCl,

the tissue started contracting by itself... spontaneously.

and it refused to stop.

first, one that refused to contract,

next, one that refused to stop?

swtzzzz.

i looked at the little piece of meat dangling there,

mentally screaming at it -"what, you nervous issit?!"

and apparently it heard me,

because then it spontaneously stopped -.-

so then we could finally *finally* get on with the experiment

and we were like almost the last to finish.

takpe la, as long as can get results :)