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Potassium Leakage From an Active Nerve Fibre

Abstract

ACCORDING to the membrane theory of nervous action, a minute quantity of potassium ions should leak out of a nerve fibre each time that an impulse travels along it. There is now general agreement that prolonged stimulation may cause a loss of potassium from nerve and muscle1,2,3,4,5, but there is no certainty that activity is normally and invariably accompanied by such leakage. Nor is there any clear information about the time course of the leakage of potassium.

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HODGKIN, A., HUXLEY, A. Potassium Leakage From an Active Nerve Fibre. Nature 158, 376–377 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158376b0

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