WEST HUMBER C.I.

RAT DISSECTION GUIDE SBI3U1

Name: Date: OVERVIEW In your group (formed by your teacher), you will be expected to observe the external and internal anatomy of the animal. Your group will have to record certain observations and answer some basic questions today before you go. In addition, there are a number of organs that I want you to find and show to me. I have a checklist, I will be using to check your progress and monitor your groups behaviour and individual participation. All persons should participate whether they are the surgeons, reader, or nurse. Take this opportunity seriously as it is a privilege. It is a major expense for our department and there is a moral obligation to learn as much from this as you can since the animals life has been taken for this purpose. At the end of the lab all of the rat will be put in a garbage bag and the dissection tray and tools rinsed. Wipe down the lab bench you used. SAFETY Wear safety glasses in case the preservative gets into your eyes. You will get one pair of gloves to use. It is best if someone in your group doesnt touch the rat so they can draw and write. DIRECTIONS Get your dissection tray and gloves. Get your animal from the teacher. You will need scissors, forceps, and get two hemostats. The hemostats can be used to blunt dissect and as clamps.

hemostats

forceps

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QUESTIONS 1. Place your rat in a dissecting tray and examine the external features. The rat (and all vertebrates) has anatomical regions to help locate structures. a. Cranial: Head, cervical region, neck b. Pectoral: Area where front legs attach c. Thoracic: Chest, abdomen, belly d. Pelvic: Area where the back legs attach 2. Locate/observe the vibrissae (whiskers), the pinna (ears), and the eyes . Both of these are sensory structures. Rat whiskers are very sensitive to touch and may even detect changes in air pressure. Rats are gnawing mammals and two large incisors should be visible. Eyes are usually pink or black pupil and covered by a nictitating membrane. This membrane allows the rat to blink without closing its eyes!

3. Examine the animal and answer the following questions: a. How many incisors does the rat have in the upper jaw and what are they for?

b. Describe the tail. c. What are the two purposes of the tail? One has to do with the lack of hair. d. How many digits does the rat hand have?

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4. Determine the sex of your rat. The sex of the rat can be determined by looking for external testes, found on males and the presence (or absence) of teats, which are only found on female rats.

Male

Female

5. Remove the skin and muscle from the thoracic and abdominal area. Using scissors, make the incisions in the rat, following the guided numbers. Make sure to not cut too deeply and keep the point of the scissors facing upward, we DO NOT want to cut the organs. Once the body cavity is opened, pin down the flaps of muscle and skin to the dissecting tray. Be very careful not to cut any organs, as this may cause you to lose points on the quiz section of the lab!

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6. If you have not done so already, tease away the muscles of the neck to reveal the trachea. The trachea is identifiable by its ringed cartilage which provides support. The esophagus lies behind the trachea, but can be difficult to locate in this area. 7. Locate the larynx, which is just anterior to the trachea. The larynx is the voicebox, and allows rats to make squeaking noises. 8. Locate the heart, the lungs, and the diaphragm. You will need to cut through the ribs to see these if you have not done so already. a. The Heart is centrally located in the thoracic cavity. The lungs are spongy organs that lie on either side of the heart and should take up most of the thoracic cavity. They lie closer to the back of the rat, you will need to push the ribs to the side to find them. b. A sheet of muscle can be found just under the heart (and above the liver) - this is the diaphragm. This muscle is only found in mammals. (The diaphragm may have been cut when you opened the thoracic cavity.)

9. Locate the liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, small intestine, and large intestine. a. The liver is a dark colored organ suspended just under the diaphragm. It has four lobes, or parts. The spleen is about the same color as the liver and is attached to the curved part of the stomach. The small intestine is a slender coiled tube that receives partially digested food from the stomach. It consists of three sections: duodenum, jejunum and ileum. b. The large intestine (aka colon) is a large greenish tube that extends from the small intestine and leads to the anus. The colon on the rat has a cecum, which is large flattened sac in the lower third of the abdominal cavity; it is a dead-end pouch and is similar to the appendix in humans. The rectum is the short, terminal section of the colon that leads to the anus. The rectum temporarily stores feces before they are expelled from the body.

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10. Clamp the intestine below the stomach and as very low down on the large intestine. Cut the intestine out, gently unpack it and measure the length of the small and large intestine with the measuring tape. ________cm small intestine EXTRA ACTIVITIES 11. Now you should open the animals skull and observe the brain. You can see whats in the stomach, or examine the heart more closely. CLEAN UP 12. Dispose of the rat parts in the bag provided, clean up the tray, tools by rinsing thoroughly with water, wipe down the lab bench and wash your hands. _____cm large intestine

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EVALUATION Group Members:

Criteria 1. Does their share of the work without taking over? 2. Acts maturely? 3. On-time? 4. Listens to all instructions provided? 5. Acts as a team player? Group Members Marks

CALL THE TEACHER OVER FOR THE LAB QUIZ.

a) There is no lab data for this dissection, only a lab QUIZ. b) Be sure that you did not discard ANY pieces of the rat. c) ALL MEMBERS of your group need to be able to point out and define all underlined words from these instructions. d) The teacher (Mr. Patel or Ms. Stobie) will ask each group member a question regarding these underlined words (which may include pointing it out on your rat). Only the person asked may answer. e) Points will be deducted from the group for talking out of turn or answering wrong. f) The teacher will also check your rat to make sure you dissected it properly- points will be deducted if it appears you did not follow instructions or if you behave inappropriately at any point during the lab. g) Be sure you are ready for this before you call the teacher over for the quiz!!

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Group successfully locates the following organs independently (5), with help (3), or not at all (0):

0 0 0 0
External Features + Organs 1. External features: Cranial: Pectoral: Thoracic: Pelvic: Vibrissae (whiskers): Pinna: Sex of the rat: 2. Liver 3. Esophagus enters stomach 4. Stomach 5. Duodenum leaves stomach 6. Diaphragm 7. Spleen 8. Small intestine 9. Trachea 10. Larynx 11. Large intestine 12. Kidneys 13. Urinary bladder 14. Pancreas 15. Heart 16. Lung

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5

External Features + Organs Identified By Group Members

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