Bio11 – Rat Dissection Lab

INTRODUCTION
✓ Ethical Expectations
These rats were, at one time, living animals. Although they are raised as a tool for your learning,
they, like any other organism, deserve to be treated with respect (both in life and in death).

Why Do We Dissect?
● We have chosen rats for our dissection experience for a variety of reasons. Rats are mammals,
just like humans! Therefore, they share many of the same internal and external structures that
humans do, and perform many of the same functions. Some of these traits include:
o Vertebrates (have backbones)
o Hair-covered bodies
o Mammary glands for nursing young
o Young are nourished in mother’s uterus
o Breathe with lungs (throughout lifetime)
o Diaphragm separating thoracic and digestive cavities
o Four-chambered heart
o Warm-blooded
o Two pairs of limbs

Rat External Anatomy

2. Note the hairy coat that covers the rat and the sensory hairs (whiskers - called vibrissae) located on the rat's
face.

3. The mouth has a large cleft in the upper lip, which exposes large front incisors (two middle teeth). Rats are
gnawing mammals, and these incisors will continue to grow for as long as the rat lives.
 4. Note the eyes with the large pupil and the nictitating membrane found at the inside corner of the eye. This
membrane can be drawn across the eye for protection. The eyelids are similar to those found in humans.

5. The ears are composed of the external part, called the pinna, and the auditory meatus, the ear canal.

6. Locate the teats on the ventral surface of the rat. Check a rat of another sex and determine whether both sexes
have teats.

7. Examine the tail, the tails of rats do not have fur (only fine hair), though some rodents, like gerbils, have fur on
their tails.

8. Locate the anus, which is ventral to the base of the tale.

9. On female rats, just posterior to the last pair of teats, you will find two openings- 1) the urinary opening and
behind that 2) the vaginal orifice, which is in a small depression called the vulva.

10. On males, you will find a large pair of scrotal sacs, which contain testes. Just anterior to the scrotal sacs is the
prepuce, which is a bulge of skin surrounding the penis. The end of the penis has a urogenital orifice, where
both urine and sperm exit.

Rat Internal Anatomy

1. Pin the rat down by placing the rat ventral (belly) side up.

2. Lift the abdominal skin with the forceps, and cut through it with the scissors. Close the scissor blades and
insert them under the skin. Moving in the direction up to the head, open and close the blades to loosen the
skin from the underlying connective tissue and muscle.

3. Once this skin-freeing procedure has been completed, cut the rat along the body midline, from the pubic
region to the lower jaw.

4. Make a lateral (cross) cut about halfway down the ventral surface of each limb. Complete the job of freeing
the skin with the scissor tips.

5. Pin the flaps to the tray.

6. Notice that the muscles are packaged in sheets of pearly white connective tissue called fascia, which protect
the muscles and bind them together.

7. Carefully cut through the muscles of the abdominal wall in the pubic region, avoiding the underlying organs.
To do this, hold and lift the muscle layer with the forceps and cut through the muscle layer from the pubic
region to the bottom of the rib cage, in a similar way you did with the skin.
The Thoracic Organs
1. Make two lateral cuts through the rib cage. A thin muscle attached to the posterior boundary of the rib cage
should be obvious: this is the diaphragm, which separates the thoracic and abdominal cavities and is responsible
for inhalation/exhalation. Cut the diaphragm away to loosen the rib cage. You can now lift the ribs to view the
contents of the thoracic cavity.

2. Examine the structures of the thoracic cavity starting with the most superficial structure and working deeper.

3. Observe the heart and the lungs. The heart is centrally located in the thoracic cavity. The two dark colored
chambers at the top are the atria (single: atrium), and the bottom chambers are the ventricles. The heart is
covered by a thin membrane called the pericardium which helps to hold it in place.

4. Observe the throat region to identify the trachea- a small, white, ridged tube that runs down the neck. The
bronchial tubes branch from the trachea and enter the lungs on either side. The lungs are large spongy tissue
that take up a large amount of the thoracic cavity. Bronchial tubes may be difficult to locate because they are
embedded in the lungs.

5. To expose the esophagus, push the trachea to one side using a probe.

6. Follow the esophagus through the diaphragm to its junction with the stomach.

7. Look in the abdominal cavity. The abdominal organs may still be covered with a membrane, the peritoneum, but
this usually comes off with the overlying layers. Another membrane, the mesentery, surrounds and supports
most of the digestive system, and in human males is a primary storage site for fat, causing "beer bellies" in some
men. The primary fat storage site for most human females is usually in the sides and backs of the hips. Lift the
small intestine with the forceps to view the mesentery.
The Abdominal Organs

1. Locate the liver, which is a dark colored organ suspended just under the diaphragm. The liver has many
functions, one of which is to produce bile, which aids in digesting fat. The liver also stores glycogen for use when
you haven’t eaten and transforms wastes into less harmful substances. Rats do not have a gall bladder, which is
used for storing bile in other animals.

2. The esophagus pierces the diaphragm and moves food from the mouth to the stomach. It is distinguished from
the trachea by its lack of cartilage rings.

3. Locate the stomach on the left side just under the diaphragm. The functions of the stomach include food storage,
physical breakdown of food, and the digestion of protein. The opening between the esophagus and the stomach
is called the cardiac sphincter. This is where humans sometimes get “heartburn.”

4. Slit the stomach lengthwise and notice the ridges. These help in mechanical digestion. The attachment between
the stomach and the intestine is called the pyloric sphincter.

5. The spleen is about the same color as the liver and is attached to the stomach. It is associated with the
circulatory system and functions in the destruction of blood cells and blood storage. A person can live without a
spleen, but they're more likely to get sick as it helps the immune system function.

6. The pancreas is a brownish, flattened gland found in the tissue between the stomach and small intestine. Find
the pancreas by looking for a thin, almost membrane looking structure that has the consistency of cottage cheese.
The pancreas produces digestive enzymes that are sent to the intestine via small ducts (the pancreatic duct). The
pancreas also secretes insulin, which is important in the regulation of glucose metabolism.

7. The small intestine is a slender coiled tube that receives partially digested food from the stomach (via the pyloric
sphincter). It continues the chemical digestion of food with enzymes from the pancreas, as well as its own
enzymes. It then absorbs the digested nutrients into the bloodstream for transportation around the body.
 8. Use your scissors to cut the mesentery (the thin, connective tissue) of the small intestine, but do not remove it
from its attachment to the stomach and rectum. If you are careful you will be able to stretch it out and untangle it
so that you can see the relative lengths of the large and the small intestine.

9. Locate the large intestine (also known as the colon), which is the large greenish tube that extends from the
small intestine and leads to the anus. The colon is where the final stages of digestion and water absorption occurs
and it contains a variety of bacteria to aid in digestion.

10. Locate the cecum - a large sac in the lower third of the abdominal cavity, it is a dead-end pouch and is similar to
the appendix in humans. It also is the point at which the small intestine becomes the large intestine.

11. Locate the rectum - the short, terminal section of the colon between the descending colon and the anus. The
rectum temporarily stores feces before they are expelled from the body.

Excretory Organs

1. To locate the kidneys, move the stomach and the intestines to one side with the probe. Examine the posterior
wall of the abdominal cavity to locate the two kidneys. The primary organs of the excretory system are the
kidneys, which clean waste from the blood. These organs are large bean shaped structures located toward the
back of the abdominal cavity on either side of the spine. Renal arteries supply the kidneys with blood to be
cleaned, while renal veins take purified blood away from the kidneys.

2. Carefully strip away part of the membrane covering a kidney with forceps. Attempt to follow the course of one of
the ureters, which carry urine to the bladder. Wiggle the kidneys to help locate these tiny tubes.

3. The urethra carries urine from the bladder to the urethral orifice (this orifice is found in different areas depending
on whether you have a male or female rat).

4. The small yellowish glands embedded in the fat atop the kidneys are the adrenal glands, which produce the
hormone, adrenaline, when you are scared or excited.
Rat Dissection Review Questions Names:________________________________

1. What Phylum is the rat classified under?

2. What 4 key characteristics are needed for this phylum? How does the rat demonstrate these? Were you
able to observe all of them today?

3. Compare the structure of the esophagus and the trachea. How is the trachea adapted for its function?

4. Compare the lengths of the small and large intestine. How is this difference related to their functions?

5. Describe one way the digestive system of the rat differs to that of most other mammals, including
humans.

6. Which sensory structure that arthropods have could you consider analogous to the vibrissae?
7. What differences would you expect to find between the heart of a rat (mammal) and other “less
evolved” chordates? Support your answer by comparing mammals to another class of chordates.

8. Are chordates considered to be segmented? Explain your answer.

9. Compare (similarities and differences) the digestive system of the rat to the earthworm.