Rat dissection continued

Identify the organs of the digestive tract.
Stomach.
Esophagus
Small intestine
Caecum
Rectum

 
Pull out the digestive tract and separate it from the mesentery. Measure the length of the digestive tract.

 
Locate the stomach. Cut through the stomach wall. Can you workout the rat's diet.

 
Cut through the chest cavity and identify the lungs and heart.

 
Locate the trachea. Insert a straw into the trachea and blow. Notice the lungs inflate.

 

 

Cut out the heart. With a sharp razor blade slice the heart into two halves. Note the different chambers.
How many chambers does it have?
Are they all the same thickness? Explain why.
Compare the rat's heart structure to that of a human heart. Outline the similarities and differences, if any.

 

See if you can identify and carefully dissect out the lungs. Insert a small plastic pipette down the trachea and inflate the lungs as shown on the right.

What type of tissue are the lungs made from.
What is the function of the lungs?
Identify the following parts of the respiratory system and suggest what their function is.

Trachea

Lungs

Diaphragm

Why must the chest cavity remain perfectly sealed from the outside?

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