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Ca2+ influx across the excitable membrane of behavioural mutants of Paramecium

Nature volume 259, pages 491–494 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

THE ciliate protozoan Paramecium has an excitable surface membrane, which depolarises in response to a sudden increase in the Na+ or K+ concentration of the medium. An influx of Ca2+ during depolarisation raises the internal Ca2+ concentration, which in turn causes the cilia to reverse their direction of beating, and the cells to swim backwards1. The swimming behaviour of Paramecium is therefore a direct and readily observable correlate of the electrophysiological state of the membrane.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706

    JEFFREY L. BROWNING & DAVID L. NELSON

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, 93106

    HELEN G. HANSMA

Authors
  1. JEFFREY L. BROWNING
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  2. DAVID L. NELSON
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  3. HELEN G. HANSMA
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BROWNING, J., NELSON, D. & HANSMA, H. Ca2+ influx across the excitable membrane of behavioural mutants of Paramecium. Nature 259, 491–494 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/259491a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/259491a0

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