Team Based Learning

A short guide to TBL

Dear Students,

On 23 October 2026 and 26 October 2026, we will hold a Team-Based Learning (TBL) session on Nerve and Muscle Physiology.

In order to find your team number, click on the name of the auditory in the table below.

Important information

-  TBL is obligatory, includes control of the presence.

-  Find your TBL team number on the list of participants.

-  Change of the team/time is possible only in special cases, and prior to the TBL. Please contact your group teacher and send your request to gabriela.repiska@fmed.uniba.sk

-  Please come to the auditory at least 5 minutes in advance. Join your team. The team numbers will be located on a visible place on the desks. The latecomers will not be allowed to join the TBL, and will have to do a substitution in December.

Assignment - topics for self-study

Students who come prepared have the greatest benefit from the TBL format. Please find the topics that will be discussed in the sections below, study the topic in advance, and come prepared.

Nerve physiology

- Resting membrane potential – how is it generated, distribution of ions in the ECF, ICF, effect of the cell membrane permeability for ions and the NA-K pump

- Stimulus and its qualities– adequate stimulus, effect of the intensity and duration of a stimulus

- Action potential of the nerve and muscle – curve, values, phases, ion flows

- The „all or nothing“ principle, its application to 1 muscle (nerve) fibre and for muscle/peripheral nerve, compound action potential of a peripheral nerve

- Synapse – definition, types of synapses, structure, mechanism of synaptic transmission

Muscle physiology

- Neuromuscular transmission – function of the motor end-plate, potential of the motor end-plate

- Mechanism of contraction in the skeletal muscle, excitation-contraction coupling, work and fatigue of a skeletal muscle, muscle fatigue

- Motor unit, regulation of the strength of a muscle contraction, tetanus – complete, incomplete, curves

Physiology of the autonomic nervous system

divisions, neurotransmitters and types of receptors, removal of neurotransmitters form the synaptic cleft, effects of stimulation of the ANS on the effector organs

Clinical problem to be discussed

Understanding of the theoretical principles of nerve and muscle physiology will be trained on a case of patient with myasthenia gravis.

Recommended study resources

Physiology of the excitable tissues.

Autonomic nervous system.

In: Ostatníková et al.: Basics of Physiology

And/or  in other physiology textbooks (Berne and Levy, Costanzo, etx.)

Lectures: physiology of the nerve and muscle, autonomic nerve system (MS Teams, face-to face)

Basic information about myasthenia gravis is available on the website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasthenia_gravis