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Marked prolongation of post-tetanic potentiation at a transition temperature and its adaptation

Nature volume 258, pages 623–625 (1975)Cite this article

Abstract

A UNITARY, monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potential (e.p.s.p.) can be recorded from cell R15 of the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia californica on appropriate stimulation of the right visceropleural connective. The amplitude of this e.p.s.p. undergoes a sequence of changes with trains of one or two stimuli per second. These changes include synaptic depression, frequency facilitation and post-tetanic potentiation. As described in detail elsewhere1,2, all these phenomena are apparently due to alterations in the amount of neurotransmitter released rather than to postsynaptic mechanisms. The frequency facilitation, a relatively transient phenomenon, is believed to be limited by the rate of neurotransmitter mobilisation into the pool available for release2. In contrast, the post-tetanic potentiation, a much more sustained phenomenon, is believed to be due to a change in the fraction of the available pool of transmitter released per stimulus2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093

    WERNER T. SCHLAPFER, PAUL B. J. WOODSON, GARY A. SMITH, JACQUES P. TREMBLAY & SAMUEL H. BARONDES

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Veterans Administration Hospital, San Diego, California, 92161

    WERNER T. SCHLAPFER, PAUL B. J. WOODSON, GARY A. SMITH, JACQUES P. TREMBLAY & SAMUEL H. BARONDES

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  1. WERNER T. SCHLAPFER
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  2. PAUL B. J. WOODSON
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  4. JACQUES P. TREMBLAY
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  5. SAMUEL H. BARONDES
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SCHLAPFER, W., WOODSON, P., SMITH, G. et al. Marked prolongation of post-tetanic potentiation at a transition temperature and its adaptation. Nature 258, 623–625 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258623a0

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