Abstract
TO account for fast axoplasmic transport, the movement of materials in nerve fibres, a model has been advanced in analogy to the sliding filament mechanism of muscle contraction1. We have shown in in vitro studies that transport is closely dependent on oxidative metabolism and a continual supply of ATP which could be hydrolysed by the Mg2+–Ca2+ ATPase present in nerve2. One might, therefore, expect a dependence of transport on either Ca2+ or Mg2+. But, in previous studies of axoplasmic transport in vitro, we and others found transport to continue as usual when nerves were placed in incubation media free of divalent cations3–5. Some support for the involvement of Ca2+ in transport was provided by the fact that a block of transport was found with 50 mM oxalate, presumably by a binding of intracellular Ca2+ (ref. 1) and the block of organelle movement observed in single fibres exposed to 10 mM EDTA6. We report here that clear evidence for a participation of Ca2+ in axoplasmic transport was revealed when a desheathed nerve preparation was used.
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OCHS, S., WORTH, R. & CHAN, SY. Calcium requirement for axoplasmic transport in mammalian nerve. Nature 270, 748–750 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270748a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270748a0
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