Abstract
POTASSIUM appears to increase the liberation of acetylcholine from frog's heart (Beznak1), from the superior cervical ganglion (Brown and Feldberg2,3) and from other organs (Feldberg and Guimarais4). But it has been found5,6 that muscles curarized with erythrina, cobra venom, curare, etc., are nearly or completely insensitive to intra-arterial injections of acetylcholine, whereas they react normally to potassium. It may therefore be inferred that if both compounds intervene in the nervous transmission, acetylcholine acts by the intermediate liberation of potassium probably from some organic compound as suggested by Reginster7 for striated muscles, and Dulière and Loewi8 for the central nervous system of the frog.
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References
Beznak, A. B. L., J. Physiol., 82, 129 (1934).
Brown, C. L., and Feldberg, W., J. Physiol., 84, 12P (1935).
Brown, C. L., and Feldberg, W., J. Physiol., 86, 290 (1936).
Feldberg, W., and Guimarais, J. A., J. Physiol., 86, 306 (1936).
Cicardo, V. H., Rev. Soc. Arg. Biol., 14, 331 (1938); C.R. Soc. Biol., 129, 1263 (1938).
Cicardo, V. H., Rev. Soc. Arg. Biol., 15, 12 (1939).
Reginster, A., Arch. Internal. Physiol., 47, 24 (1938).
Dulière, W., and Loewi, O., NATURE, 144, 244 (1939).
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CICARDO, V., MOGLIA, J. Liberation of Potassium from Muscle by Acetylcholine. Nature 145, 551 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145551a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145551a0
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