Labster has new learning content. Click here to learn more.
Login:
Time to complete course: 30 min.
Need help? Visit our Help Center.
Access 160+ virtual learning simulations
Discover which Labster plan is right for your institution
About Endocrinology: Learn how contraceptives work Virtual Lab Simulation
Hormones are crazy! Can we control them? In this simulation you will learn about different hormones’ influence on fertility. You will use rabbits as test subjects to learn about the impact of different hormones on the reproductive cycles of mammals, such as humans.
Inhibit rabbit fertility with hormones
A petting zoo is experiencing problems with wildly multiplying rabbits and they are in desperate need of your help! Your mission in this simulation is to develop an efficient method for getting the rabbit population under control.
Endocrine system controls fertility
To test the effects of different levels of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in the blood of female rabbits you will work in a virtual lab. Normally, you would need weeks to complete experiments, and you would have to sacrifice a number of rabbits to dissect and inspect the uterus. For the males, the experiments with DMAU would take multiple weeks to test with living specimens. In this simulation, you don’t have to worry about any of those things! Time can be sped up to avoid waiting time and no animals are harmed in a virtual world. In addition to that, instead of compiling heavy tables from your data, the virtual machines will present your data in easy-to-digest graphs and charts.
Use hormones as a contraceptive
To find a good hormonal contraceptive you will have to test several rabbits. You will feed each treatment to a rabbit, and then, with a microscope and radioimmunoassays, you will investigate the hormones’ effect on the thickening of the uterus in females, and motility and number of semen in males.
Will you be able to use the skills you acquire to develop a hormonal contraceptive for the rabbits?
Get Started Now
Develop a method for keeping a population of rabbits under control by using hormonal treatments. Investigate how different concentrations of different hormones impact the fertility of male and female rabbits.
Techniques in Lab
- With a Radioimmunoassay investigate the hormonal concentrations in blood serum
- With light microscopy assess the motility and viability of semen
- Use the McPhail scale to judge uterus development
Learning Objectives
At the end of this simulation, you will be able to…
- Understand hormonal feedback mechanisms
- Use physiological methods to assess fertility in
males and females - Understand how hormonal feedback mechanisms among LH, FSH progesterone and estrogen control fertility and ovulation in females
- Understand how hormonal feedback mechanisms among LH, FSH, and testosterone control fertility in males.
Simulation Features
Length – 30 minutes
Languages – English
Examples of Related Standards
University
Life Science related 1st year onwards
IB
11.4 Sexual reproduction
Screenshots of Endocrinology: Learn how contraceptives work Virtual Lab Simulation
How it works
A million dollar lab in your browser
Perform experiments in virtual lab simulations to achieve core science learning outcomes.
All our simulations run on laptop and desktop computers, and you can play our simulations without having to install any browser plugins.
Hundreds of hours of science learning content
Our virtual laboratory simulations are aimed at university, college and high school level, within fields such as biology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, chemistry, physics and more.
With access to our simulations, you will have hundreds of hours of engaging, high-quality learning content available to you.
Discover more Virtual Lab Simulations
We currently have 200 simulations that cover everything from biology and medicine to physics and chemistry.
