1. A patient is admitted for electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). The physician orders the neuromuscular blocking agent metocurine iodide (metubine) to reduce trauma by relaxing skeletal muscles. Explain the process of muscle contraction and how a neuromuscular blocking agent, such as metubine, would interfere with muscle contraction.
According to the Mayo Clinic website electroconvulsive treatment is the use of an electrical signal that sent through the brain to intentionally induce a brief seizure. They claim this procedure attempts to cause changes in a person's brain chemistry in to help alleviate symptoms of mental illness. It is typically administered when other methods of treatment have failed (Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - MayoClinic.com, n.d.). In a case where electroconvulsive treatment is recommended, a physician may order the use of a neuromuscular depolarizing agent such as metocurine iodide (metubine). This would interrupt skeletal muscles, without depolarizing the end plate (metocurine - PubChem., n.d.). To examine how interrupting skeletal muscle contractions work and the role acetylcholine plays, the role of an acetylcholine antagonists such as metubine becomes in the reduction of convulsive states during electroconvulsive therapy will be more clear.
In a nerves stimulus event an electrical signal is propagated through the length of the axon of a motor nerve. This electrical signal, also propagated through ion channels, causes the opening of calcium ion channels. These calcium ion channels , guided by the membrane potential,allow calcium ions to diffuse into the axon terminal of the motor neuron. As more calcium ions travel into the axon of the motor neuron, synaptic vesicles begin to form around acetylcholine and leave the axon of the motor neuron, entering the synaptic cleft through exocytosis (Hoehn and Marieb, 2007). Next, the acetylcholine now