Abstract
AFTER transection of a motor nerve, the severed part of the axon undergoes progressive changes known as Wallerian degeneration. But before the degenerating axon loses its ability to conduct action potentials, function and structure of the motor nerve terminals are impaired and neuromuscular transmission fails1. Several workers have noted that this failure occurs at a time which depends on the length of the degenerating nerve segment2,3. This communication describes experiments which make it possible to relate quantitatively the length of the degenerating axon to the time at which neuromuscular transmission fails.
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References
Titeca, J., Arch. Internat. Physiol., 41, 1 (1935). Rosenblueth, A., The Transmission of Nerve Impulses at Neuroeffector Junctions and Peripheral Synapses, 191 (Wiley and Sons, New York, 1950).
Eyzaguirre, C., Espildora, J., and Luco, J. V., Acta Physiol. Lat-Amer., 2, 213 (1952). Birks, R., Katz, B., and Miledi, R., J. Physiol., 150, 145 (1960).
Luco, J. V., and Eyzaguirre, C., J. Neurophysiol., 18, 65 (1955).
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SLATER, C. Time Course of Failure of Neuromuscular Transmission after Motor Nerve Section. Nature 209, 305–306 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/209305b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/209305b0
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