Abstract
IN many neurones, calcium as well as sodium enters during the action potential1. Intracellular injection of calcium has been shown in several neurones to increase membrane conductance to potassium2,3, and voltage clamp experiments have demonstrated that inward calcium currents can activate outward potassium currents4–7. The action potential in many nerve cells is followed by a slower after-hyperpolarisation (AH), which results from increases of one or more potassium conductances8,9. Therefore, calcium influx during an action potential might activate part or all of the subsequent AH2,3,10. A calcium-dependent component of the AH has been demonstrated so far in myenteric plexus neurones11,12 and spinal motoneurones13. This component of the AH is blocked by Co2+, Mn2+ and La3+, which antagonise calcium influx12,13, but agents that potentiate such AHs have not been reported. We have used sucrose-gap recording14 to investigate the sympathetic ganglion of the bullfrog, and report here that the sympathetic neurones have a calcium-sensitive component of the spike AH. Furthermore, this calcium-sensitive potassium conductance is potentiated by theophylline, a drug known to affect cellular calcium metabolism.
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BUSIS, N., WEIGHT, F. Spike after-hyperpolarisation of a sympathetic neurone is calcium sensitive and is potentiated by theophylline. Nature 263, 434–436 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263434a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/263434a0
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