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Reduction of Transmitter Output by Depolarization

Nature volume 193, pages 1294–1295 (1962)Cite this article

Abstract

IN a recent investigation1 hyperpolarization of motor nerve terminals in the rat diaphragm in vitro was found to produce a progressive increase in the amplitude of end-plate potentials intracellularly recorded at the polarized junctions. This increase in end-plate potential amplitude is due to an increase in the number of quanta of transmitter released from the nerve terminals. Apparently there has been a mobilization of transmitter. This mobilization could be explained if the quanta of transmitter (presumably the synaptic vesicles) were negatively charged and thus accelerated toward the nerve terminals by a hyperpolarizing current. In the present investigation these ideas have been tested by the application of currents in the opposite direction, that is, depolarizing currents, to the nerve terminals in the same preparation.

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References

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Author notes

  1. W. D. WILLIS: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, U.S. Public Health Service.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra

    J. I. HUBBARD & W. D. WILLIS

Authors
  1. J. I. HUBBARD
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  2. W. D. WILLIS
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HUBBARD, J., WILLIS, W. Reduction of Transmitter Output by Depolarization. Nature 193, 1294–1295 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/1931294a0

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