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Action Potentials Recorded from Inside a Nerve Fibre

Abstract

NERVOUS messages are invariably associated with an electrical change known as the action potential. This potential is generally believed to arise at a membrane which is situated between the axoplasm and the external medium. If this theory is correct, it should be possible to record the action potential between an electrode inside a nerve fibre and the conducting fluid outside it. Most nerve fibres are too small for this to be tested directly, but we have recently succeeded in inserting micro-electrodes into the giant axons of squids (Loligo forbesi)1.

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References

  1. Young, J. Z., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 121, 319 (1936).

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HODGKIN, A., HUXLEY, A. Action Potentials Recorded from Inside a Nerve Fibre. Nature 144, 710–711 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144710a0

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