Website Questions by Don OMalley, Neuroscience, Fifth Edition

Chapter 7: Molecular Signaling within Neurons, Due Monday, Nov 4, 2013

1. Which of the following types of chemical signaling acts over a small neural region encompassing a cluster
of nerve cells?
a. Endocrine
b. Exocrine
c. Paracrine
d. Synaptic
e. Ephaptic
2. In a signal transduction cascade using G-proteins and cAMP, which of the following is not a signal
amplification step?
a. Activation of G-proteins by an activated receptor
b. Activation of adenylyl cyclase molecules by G-proteins
c. Creation of cAMP molecules by adenylyl cyclase
d. Phosphorylation of target proteins by protein kinase A
e. All of the above are steps in which amplification occurs.
3. Which of the following statements about cell signaling pathways is correct?
a. Cellular responses are always short-lived.
b. Cellular responses are always long-lived.
c. Signaling is always initiated by membrane-bound receptors.
d. Signaling is always initiated by intracellular receptors.
e. None of the above
4. The acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction would best be described as a(n)
a. channel-linked receptor.
b. enzyme-linked receptor.
c. G-protein-coupled receptor.
d. nuclear receptor.
e. gap junction.
5. The protein ras
a. regulates cell differentiation.
b. is a monomeric, or small, G-protein.
c. is named after the rat sarcoma tumor virus.
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
6. Which of the following is a target of activated G-proteins?
a. Adenylyl cyclase
b. Guanylyl cyclase
c. Phospholipase C
d. Membrane-bound ion channels
e. All of the above

7. Which of the following does not contribute to maintaining low levels of calcium in resting nerve

cells?
a. Voltage-gated potassium channels
b. The plasma membrane calcium ATPase
c. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase
d. The sodium-calcium exchanger
e. Mitochondria
8. Which of the following is a second messenger whose activity is terminated by a phosphatase?
a. calcium.
b. cAMP.
c. cGMP.
d. inositol trisphosphate.
e. diacylglycerol.
9. Which of the following signaling pathways does not directly involve calcium?
a. Ryanodine receptor
b. IP3 receptor
c. cGMP
d. Phospholipase C
e. Calmodulin
10. Which of the following was the invention (by Roger Tsien) that enabled the first precise spatial and
temporal measurements of intracellular calcium dynamics?
a. Voltage clamp
b. Fura-2
c. Calcium green
d. GFP
e. Channel rhodopsin
11. Which of the following statements about protein kinasebased signaling is false?
a. Serine and threonine kinases are typically activated by second messengers.
b. Tyrosine kinases are typically activated by extracellular signals.
c. Each protein kinase has one specific target protein that it phosphorylates.
d. The effects of protein kinases can be balanced by protein phosphatases.
e. Thousands of protein kinases are expressed in the brain.
12. The kinase that is activated by a lipid is
a. protein kinase A.
b. protein kinase C.
c. protein kinase G.
d. CaM kinase II.
e. CaM kinase IV.
13. Which of the following is not integral to the functioning of protein kinases?
a. Hydrolysis of GTP prior to association of regulatory and catalytic domains
b. Reliance on functionally distinct roles of the different domains
c. Binding of one or more messengers to a regulatory domain
d. Inhibition of a catalytic domain by a regulatory domain
e. Activation of a catalytic domain via a protein conformational change

14. Which of the following is the slowest chemical signaling process?

a. Ion channelmediated depolarization
b. G-proteinmediated modulation of ion channels
c. Phosphorylation of effector molecules by protein kinases
d. Synthesis of proteins after CREB activation
e. None of the above; all have overlapping time courses in different circumstances
15. Which of the following is not involved in the activation of CREB?
a. PKA
b. CaM kinase II
c. MAP kinase
d. ras
e. All of the above contribute to CREB activation.
16. Dendritic spines
a. were discovered with the invention of electron microscopy in the 1950s.
b. serve as electrical compartments to ensure localized depolarization, and prevent such depolarization
from spreading into the dendrite.
c. serve as chemical compartments to concentrate biochemical mechanisms.
d. collectively form a set of hard-wired permanent neural connections.
e. are the sites of all excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in the mammalian CNS.
17. Which of the following statements about dendritic spines is false?
a. They enable localized, transient increases in calcium.
b. They slow but do not prevent the diffusion of IP3 out of the spine.
c. They are the sites of excitatory synapses in various parts of the CNS.
d. They have a bulbous head connected to a dendritic shaft by a narrow neck.
e. They usually contain just three proteins: NMDA receptors, mGluR receptors, and CaM kinase II.
18. Listed below are the events that make up NGF-mediated growth of sensory neurons.
1. TrkA receptor self-phosphorylation
2. Translocation of activated kinases to the nucleus
3. NGF-induced dimerization of membrane receptors
4. TrkA induction of the ras signaling pathway
Which of the following is the correct sequence of these events?
a. 1; 4; 3; 2
b. 4; 1; 3; 2
c. 3; 4; 1; 2
d. 3; 1; 4; 2
e. 1; 3; 4; 2
19. Which of the following statements about the LTD mechanism in cerebellar Purkinje cells is false?
a. Alternating activation of climbing fibers and parallel fibers is required to induce LTD.
b. The firing of parallel fibers activates mGluR receptors and generates IP 3.
c. Climbing fibers generate a large calcium signal in Purkinje cell dendrites.
d. Both IP3 and calcium are required to activate the IP3 receptors and depress AMPA receptor activity.
e. The strength of the parallel fiber synapses is depressed for a long period of time.
20. Tyrosine hydroxylase is a substrate for which of the following protein kinases?
a. PKA
b. PKC
c. CaM kinase II
d. MAP kinase

e. All of the above

21. Design an experiment to visualize the location of calcium elevation in response to synaptic stimulation,
and determine the contribution of NMDA receptors and voltage dependent calcium channels to that calcium
elevation. What techniques would you use, what signal are you measuring, what are your controls and
treatments. Hint: the technique is not electrophysiology.