Abstract
MOST experiments for recording the action potentials of striated muscle by means of intracellular electrodes are carried out with isolated curarized muscles. If non-curarized muscles in situ are used, it is very difficult to immobilize them so that artefacts appear1 and the electrode can easily break. To overcome these difficulties the stimulation of only one fibre through the intracellular recording electrode was tried. Where the stimulus was applied intracellularly, a positive stimulation pulse was used. The action potential then appeared during the pulsea2,3. The amplitude of the recorded action potential during such a positive pulse, however, decreases with increase in the stimulation pulse (Fig. 1) because of the decrease of the impedance of the membrane during the action potential4. This decrease of the impedance produces a decrease of the recorded stimulation voltage (which is proportional to the strength of the stimulus), because the stimulus is a constant current. The recorded action potential is a summation of the true action potential and this fall in voltage. A higher stimulus will therefore cause a smaller recorded action potential.
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References
Den Hertog, A., et al., Acta Physiol. Pharmacol. Neerl. (in the press).
Araki, T., and Otani, T., J. Neurophysiol., 18, 472 (1955).
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Cole, U. S., and Curtiss, H. J., J. Gen. Physiol., 22, 37 (1938).
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DEN HERTOG, A., LAMMERS, W. & MOST VAN SPIJK, D. Action Potentials of Single Muscle Fibres evoked by Stimulation via the Recording Micro-electrode. Nature 212, 1588 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2121588a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2121588a0
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