Teaching the modes of Ca2+ transport between the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum using a classic paper by Kwan et al

Teaching the renal tubular reabsorption of glucose using two classic papers by Shannon et al

Most of the transport along the nephron uses membrane proteins and exhibits the three characteristics of mediated transport: saturation, specificity, and competition. Glucose reabsorption in the nephron is an excellent example of the consequences of saturation. Two classic papers by James A. Shannon and colleagues clearly show the ability of the kidney in transporting glucose and its saturation process, providing students with examples of the handling of glucose by the kidney. In addition, these articles demonstrate how stable and reproducible is the transport maximum of glucose in the proximal tubule under different experimental conditions. One key figure from each classic paper can be used to give students insight into how glucose transport becomes saturated, resulting in the excretion of glucose in urine, and will also give students a clear example of how careful experimentation and a clear interest in renal physiology led Shannon and colleagues to advance the field.

Teaching medical students basic neurotransmitter pharmacology using primary research resources

Teaching pharmacology to medical students has long been seen as a challenge, and one to which a number of innovative approaches have been taken. In this article, we describe and evaluate the use of primary research articles in teaching second-year medical students both in terms of the information learned and the use of the papers themselves. We designed a seminar where small groups of students worked on different neurotransmitters before contributing information to a plenary session. Student feedback suggested that when the information was largely novel, students learned considerably more. Crucially, this improvement in knowledge was seen even when they had not directly studied a particular transmitter in their work groups, suggesting a shared learning experience. Moreover, the majority of students reported that using primary research papers was easy and useful, with over half stating that they would use them in future study.