Physiology
Cardiovascular System
Blaufuss Heart Sounds and Cardiac Arrhythmias
Includes a heart sounds tutorial, a heart sounds quiz, a high-and low-frequency sounds program, a physiological splitting of the second heart sound, an ECGviewer, a frontal axis demo, and an SVT tutorial.
Blood Typing Game
Give the three patients the right type of blood or you will endanger their lives. Look at “Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions” here and the disclaimer here to better understand the different blood types. Then you are ready to play the quick game in which you pick up the needle, use it to draw blood out of the patient’s elbow area, state what type of blood the patient has, drop the needle over the three test tubes to see the blood typing results, and then drag blood bags to the pole to give the patient blood. There is also a mission-based game. The old version of the game is available here.
Cardiovascular System Topics
Includes three animated series on the cardiac action potential, the cardiac cycle, and blood pressure regulation. Note from Dr. Fitzovich on the cardiac action potential tutorial: “Be careful about control of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium release in cardiac cells because it is mediated by calcium influx, not depolarization of the SR. Also note that a ‘funny current’ due to a special sodium channel is responsible for the pacemaker function.”
HeartScape
Includes a review of and quizzes on cardiac anatomy and physiology. Covers the mechanical and electrical structures of the heart. For additional quizzes, please click here.
Map of the Human Heart
Provides an anatomical diagram of the heart and has a moving image of how blood moves through the heart.
Shockwave animations – Hyper Hearts
Includes animations of heart circulation, an EKG, a graph of pressure readings and ventricular volume, and a graph of heart sounds. Also includes brief tutorials on atrial systole, isovolumetric contraction, rapid ejection, reduced ejection, isovolumetric relaxation, rapid ventricular filling, and diastasis.
Eyes
Eye Simulator/Virtual Patient Simulator
See what happens when to eye movement and pupil dilation when nerves and muscles are not working. Select a button in the top window to go to the Eye Movement Simulator, the Pupil Response Simulator, or the Patient Cases. Created by Rick Lasslo, M.D., M.S., Gary Henderson, PhD, and John Keltner, M.D., of the UC Davis School of Medicine.
General Physiology Resources
Links for Anatomy and Physiology and MFM Animations, Movies, and Interactive Tutorials
Click here for links to animations, movies and interactive tutorials for general references, the cardiovascular system, blood circulation, blood, lymphatic and immune system, respiratory system, urinary system; fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base homeostasis; digestive system, metabolism, reproductive system, embryology and development, and genetics.
BBC – Human Body and Mind
Play drag-and-drop games to test your abilities to correctly place items in the muscular and skeletal system. Quiz yourself on nervous system connections and the senses. Learn interesting facts about physiology.
Get Body Smart
Includes exceptional interactive tutorials on the human skeletal system, muscular system, muscle tissue physiology, nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, urinary system, and histology. One may turn labels off to quiz oneself on anatomy.
HHMI’s BioInteractive
Includes animations on hearing, heart circulation, and invasions of bacteria and viruses. Includes modules on obesity, cancer, neuroscience, cardiovascular, DNA, RNA, biological clocks, infectious diseases, immunology, and genomics and chemical genetics.
The Virtual Labs Project
Need Adobe Shockwave Player installed to view this website. This Stanford University website includes interactive tutorials with animations for cardiovascular system, cranial nerves, gastrointestinal system, medicine/pharmacy, neurology, renal system, respiratory system, the visual system, other topics, and reviews of muscular anatomy and skeletal anatomy.
Hematology
Blood
This excerpt from John W. Kimball’s online biology textbook covers the blood’s function, cells, and cell fragments.
Blood Typing Game
Give the three patients the right type of blood or you will endanger their lives. Look at “Blood Groups, Blood Typing and Blood Transfusions” here and the disclaimer here to better understand the different blood types. Then you are ready to play the quick game in which you pick up the needle, use it to draw blood out of the patient’s elbow area, state what type of blood the patient has, drop the needle over the three test tubes to see the blood typing results, and then drag blood bags to the pole to give the patient blood. There is also a mission-based game. The old version of the game is available here.
Bloodline Image Atlas
“This fully searchable directory features more than 800 hematological slides depicting various blood disorders and malignancies.” One can use a categorical index or keyword search to access the images.
Get Body Smart’s Blood and Blood Cell Quizzes
Includes visual quizzes for hematocrit, total RBC count, blood typing, WBC differential count, and clotting (coagulation) time.
Hemosurf – Demo
View normal and abnormal white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
Immune System
Host Defense
Includes drag-and-drop quizzes on the components of the specific and nonspecific host defense system.
Muscular System
Facial Muscle Action Illustrated
In the drawing, click on a muscle to see videos of its action(s) and read information about it.
Get Body Smart Muscle Tissue Physiology
Tutorials cover the location and organization of muscle fibers, nerve supply to muscle fibers, and contraction of muscle fibers. Quizzes cover general characteristics of muscle fibers and internal organization of muscle fibers.
Learn Your Muscles
For each muscle, it provides an image that highlights the muscle and provides information on origin, attachments, action, and innervation. Muscles are listed in alphabetical order or by region.
Muscle Atlas – Upper Extremities and Lower Extremities
Upper extremities: http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas/
Lower extremities: http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas2/
Depicts each muscle and gives information on origin, attachments, action, and innervation. Muscles are listed in alphabetical order.
Muscle contraction animations:
Purdue North Central
San Diego State University College of Sciences
Wiley.com
Wisc-Online – Online Learning Object Repository – hit the next button to see the animations
Nervous System
3-D Brain Anatomy
Learn the locations and functions of major brain sections on this 3-D model that you can rotate and zoom within. You can also explore the brain by area or function.
Animated Tutorials: Neurobiology/Biopsychology  Â
Includes animated tutorials for neuronal development, synaptic transmission, the action potential, the resting membrane potential, sensitization in aplysia, the voltage clamp method, AMPA and NMDA receptors, sound transduction, the vestibular system, visual pathways in the human brain, receptive fields in the retina, reflex arcs, receptors of the skin, and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
Animations
Includes animations on the chemical synapse; membrane-bound receptors, g proteins, and Ca2+ channels; voltage gated channels and the action potential; sodium-potassium exchange; function of the neuromuscular junction; and action potential propagation in an unmyelinated axon.
Cranial Nerves – Introduction
Provides an anatomical diagram of the cranial nerves, lists their functions, and allows you to take quizzes on the information. Also has a quiz on cranial nerve trivia.
Learn Your Cutaneous Innervation
Has anterior and posterior views for the upper and lower extremities showing areas innervated by particular nerves.
Learn Your Nerves
Click on drawings to learn the names, spinal cord segment(s), and muscular innervation(s) of individual nerves for the cranial nerves, cervical plexus, brachial plexus, and lumbosacral plexus.
Pathway Quizzes in Neuroanatomy
Includes eighteen quizzes for pathways in the anterolateral system, dorsal column, trigeminal system (pain/temp), trigeminal system (touch), visceral sensation and taste, visual system, vestibular system, auditory system, corticospinal tract, corticobulbar tract, vestibulospinal tract, spinocerebellar tract, corticopontocerebellar tract, basal ganglia, hypothalamus, olfactory system, Circle of Papez, and limbic system.
Synaptic Transmission
Includes an animation of a synaptic transmission at a neuromuscular junction. Also includes a three-question quiz.
The 12 Cranial Nerves
This interactive tutorial includes cute animations to show what the cranial nerves control.
The Brain: Anatomy and Function
Learn about the functions and deficits associated with brain structures and test yourself on brain functions.
Renal System
Nephron Function
Click on the circles beside proximal tubule, loop of Henle, distal tubule & collecting duct, and overview. Register for free with MedEd Portal to download a zip file with the animation. One can open the .swf file with Shockwave or RealPlayer.
The Renal System
Click on “Renal” for a very detailed physiology tutorial by Stanford.
Skeletal System
Spine: Normal Anatomy
Click on “Spine: Normal Anatomy” to see moving images of the spine and learn about its anatomy and physiology.