ATLA::Alternatives to Laboratory Animals

Volume 24, Number 1

Intestinal motility: a computer simulation of the effects of drugs on colonic peristalsis, for teaching undergraduate pharmacology students.

ATLA 24, 11-19, January/February 1996

David Dewhurst,¹ Helen Leathard² and Richard Ullyott¹

Faculty of Health and Social Care, Leeds Metropolitan University, Calverley Street, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK; ²Department of Nursing Studies, University College of St Martin, Lancaster LA1 3JD, UK

SUMMARY

An interactive computer-assisted learning (CAL) program, which simulates experiments performed on segments of rat colon (in vitro) to study the pharmacology of intestinal motility, is described. The program covers: a) the actions of drugs that affect cholinergic excitatory neurotransmission in the colon; b) the effects of sympathomimetic amines; and c) an investigation of the mechanism of action of the laxative, phenolphthalein.

The program can be run on any IBM-compatible PC, and makes use of text and high-resolution graphics to provide a background to the experiments and to describe the methodology. The screen display emulates a chart recorder, and simulated results, derived from actual data, are presented, in response to student selection of pre-determined experimental protocols from a menu. The program is aimed at undergraduate students, and is intended to support or replace a conventional laboratory practical class, while achieving the majority of the same teaching and learning objectives.

Keywords: CAL, pharmacology teaching, intestinal motility