A.

Spinal Reflexes

Table 1. The observed results in the spinal reflexes of the single pithed frog.

Conditions Observations
Posture and Respiration Drooping head, half-closed eyes, extended limbs;
123 pulses/min, 56 opening and closing of
nostrils/min
Righting Reflex Won’t return
Swimming Reflex Forelimbs not functional
Withdrawal Reflex Right forelimb resists; no movement of hind limbs
Scratch Reflex No movement

Single pithed frog are also called spinal frog as this will only destroy brain function but will still
have an intact spinal cord making all the action it will make, a reflex. Once single pithing is done to a
frog, all connections between the brain and the spinal cord will be broken; hence, it eliminates any
influence of the brain on reflex activities.

In terms of posture, the head of the single-pithed frog is bent/ drooping, its eyes were half-
closed and its limbs are extended. After single pithing was done, the frog remained motionless and loss
muscle tone. Compared to the normal frog, the respiration rate is lowered to 123/min. Although the frog
was pithed, as long as it is kept moist, respiration continues as they breathe primarily through the skin
without cerebral control.

The single pithed frog did not respond in righting reflex. Since righting reflex is a mobilizing
response requiring a coordinated sensory input and motor output for it to occur, this will not be possible
in the case of spinal frog. In addition, without the brain, it is impossible for the frog to perceive any
sensory phenomena; hence, it will not perceive any changes in its body orientation.

Swimming reflex is the coordinated movement of the limbs to sustain its body afloat the water
and to gain movement. In testing the swimming reflex of the frog, it was observed that the forelimbs of
the single pithed frog are not functional (motionless). Similar in the righting reflex, this is because the
brain function was destroyed making it unable to process any sensory information from the receptors
thus, the frog will not swim.

Withdrawal reflex occurs when there is a counteracting flex movement of a specific part of a
body upon induction of painful or harmful stimuli. An example of a cutaneous stimulation is pinching and
it is naturally responded by withdrawing that part of the body that is stimulated. Upon pinching, the
pain receptors made up of nerve endings in the skin transmit signal to the cerebellum which controls
motor function therefore, causing a flex to the muscle affected by the stimulus. Unlike with the first two
reflex tests, the spinal frog responded in the withdrawal reflex by resisting its right forelimb. Although
the single-pithed frog cannot perceive any pain, it may still be able to do actions, which are considered
to be neural reflexes controlled via motor senses in the spinal cord, not brain functions.

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 For scratch reflex, the spinal frog remained motionless. Scratch reflex was done by applying 80%
acetic acid to the frog. The acid will induce itchiness to the frog as the application of the acid onto the
skin will activate pain receptors. Hence, scratch reflex happen to relieve cutaneous irritation. However, in
the case of single-pithed frog, as it does not have the ability to perceive pain, it will therefore remain
motionless.

B. Reflex time

Table 2. Reflex time of the single-pithed frog in varying HCl concentrations

HCl Concentration (%) Time (seconds)

1% n/a
2% n/a
5% n/a
10% 18.05 seconds (trunk movement)

In this part of the experiment, the reflex time was observed in order to determine whether the
reaction time to a stimulus is influenced by the strength of the stimulus. The stimulus that was used in
this case is the addition of hydrochloric acid. As the skin of the frogs absorbs water and they also breathe
through skin due to the presence of blood vessels underneath it, their skin is more sensitive to drought
and chemicals in the water. Hence, acidic solutions can be felt more in the frogs’ skin. In this experiment,
the frog’s toe was used since it only has thin covering which is suitable for the determination of the
withdrawing reflex action as it can easily dipped, washed without affecting most of the body, and
exposed only a minimal surface area. Theoretically, higher concentration of acid should give the fastest
reflex time due to the higher number of proton (H+) available. The presence of H+ protons causes
disruption to the pH of the frog hence it will demand water and other buffering agents from the skin to
balance out the disruption. As a result, excess acid, like any other ions will therefore promote
dehydration to the frog (Doratt, 2008). In this experiment, the frog was washed with 10% sodium
bicarbonate and water after every exposure to acid to stabilize and ideally get the previous condition of
the frog, and it is done together with keeping the frog moist. In addition, exposure to the acid was done
from the lowest concentration to the highest concentration for the frogs’ sense might get used to the
acid sensation in higher concentration and will therefore tolerate the succeeding lower concentration
acids (Dela Rosa, 2016).

For the single pithed frog, it only responded when subjected to 10% HCl having 18.05 seconds reflex
time. Theoretically, no response should be observed in the spinal frog. This may be attributed to the
neural reflexes which are controlled by the motor senses in the spinal cord although the brain is already
nonfunctional.

Table: Reflex time of the single pithed frog

Action Reflex time (seconds)

Addition of 0.3% HCl 3.23
Addition of 0.1% HCl 11.26

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 Pinching + 0.3% HCl 2.53

Wilson, J. A. (1979). Principles of Animal Physiology. 2 nd ed. Collier Macmillan International

Editions: New York.

Dela Rosa, V.P. (2016). Physiology of the Nerve. Retrieved March 13, 2019 from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/311463996/Exp-2-Physiology-of-Nerve-a-D

Doratt, R.E. (2008). The Effects of Skin and Body Hydration on the Susceptibility of the Frog,
Eleutherodactylus coqui, to Citric Acidas a Control Agent. Retrieved March 13, 2019 from
http://proquest.umi.com/.

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