Pharmacological Properties of Excitatory Neuromuscular Synapses in the Locust

1968 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-361
Author(s):  
P. N. R. USHERWOOD ◽  
P. MACHILI
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Amino Group ◽  
Mechanical Responses ◽  
Neuromuscular Synapses ◽  
Level Of Activity ◽  
Excitatory Activity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Nerve Muscle ◽  
Related Compounds ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The effects of a wide range of amino acids and related compounds on retractor unguis nerve-muscle preparations from the locust, grasshopper and cockroach have been investigated. 2. L-glutamate is the most active excitatory substance. The presence of two acidic groups and one amino group is essential for excitatory activity while the position of the amino group is of some importance in determining the level of activity. 3. When L-glutamate is applied iontophoretically to the muscle fibres, ‘glutamate’ depolarizations are recorded only at the synaptic sites. Other evidence that the action of glutamate is restricted to the synaptic sites is presented. 4. Perfusion of isolated locust retractor unguis nerve-muscle preparations with locust haemolymph does not markedly affect the neurally evoked mechanical responses. It appears that locust haemolymph contains little ‘free’ L-glutamate. 5. Four acidic amino aids have been identified in the perfusate from isolated retractor unguis preparations namely, glycine, alanine, aspartate and L-glutamate. However, only L-glutamate increases in concentration during stimulation of the retractor unguis nerve.

Neuromuscular Physiology of the Longitudinal Muscle of the Earthworm, Lumbricus Terrestris

1974 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-467
Author(s):  
C. D. DREWES ◽  
R. A. PAX
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Longitudinal Muscle ◽  
Lumbricus Terrestris ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Repetitive Stimulation ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Mechanical Responses ◽  
Segmental Nerve ◽  
Earthworm Lumbricus ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Patterns of innervation of the longitudinal muscle of the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, were examined electrophysiologically. 2. The longitudinal musculature of a segment is innervated by relatively few axons, a fast and slow axon being present in segmental nerve I and in the double nerve, segmental nerve II-III. 3. Single-pulse stimulation of the fast axon produces large external muscle potentials and small twitch-like contractions, which with repetitive stimulation are antifacilitating. 4. Repetitive stimulation of the slow axon produces large, slowly developing and sustained mechanical responses, with electrical and mechanical responses showing summation and facilitation. 5. The amplitude and time course of slow mechanical responses are related to the frequency of stimulation. 6. Individual longitudinal muscle fibres are innervated by either the fast or slow axon in a segmental nerve, or by both fast and slow axons. 7. No evidence was found for peripheral inhibitory innervation of the longitudinal muscle.

Linear electrical properties of striated muscle fibres observed with intracellular electrodes

1964 ◽  
Vol 160 (978) ◽  
pp. 69-123 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Properties ◽  
Striated Muscle ◽  
Surface Membrane ◽  
Fibre Surface ◽  
Step Function ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Appreciable Effect ◽  
Current Application ◽  
Current Path ◽  
Wide Range

The linear electrical properties of muscle fibres have been examined using intracellular electrodes for a. c. measurements and analyzing observations on the basis of cable theory. The measurements have covered the frequency range 1 c/s to 10 kc/s. Comparison of the theory for the circular cylindrical fibre with that for the ideal, one-dimensional cable indicates that, under the conditions of the experiments, no serious error would be introduced in the analysis by the geometrical idealization. The impedance locus for frog sartorius and crayfish limb muscle fibres deviates over a wide range of frequencies from that expected for a simple model in which the current path between the inside and the outside of the fibre consists only of a resistance and a capacitance in parallel. A good fit of the experimental results on frog fibres is obtained if the inside-outside admittance is considered to contain, in addition to the parallel elements R m = 3100 Ωcm 2 and C m = 2.6 μF/cm 2 , another path composed of a resistance R e = 330 Ωcm 2 in series with a capacitance C e = 4.1 μF/cm 2 , all referred to unit area of fibre surface. The impedance behaviour of crayfish fibres can be described by a similar model, the corresponding values being R m = 680 Ωcm 2 , C m = 3.9 μF/cm 2 , R e = 35 Ωcm 2 , C e = 17 μF/cm 2 . The response of frog fibres to a step-function current (with the points of voltage recording and current application close together) has been analyzed in terms of the above two-time constant model, and it is shown that neglecting the series resistance would have an appreciable effect on the agreement between theory and experiment only at times less than the halftime of rise of the response. The elements R m and C m are presumed to represent properties of the surface membrane of the fibre. R e and C e are thought to arise not at the surface, but to be indicative of a separate current path from the myoplasm through an intracellular system of channels to the exterior. In the case of crayfish fibres, it is possible that R e (when referred to unit volume) would be a measure of the resistivity of the interior of the channels, and C e the capacitance across the walls of the channels. In the case of frog fibres, it is suggested that the elements R e , C e arise from the properties of adjacent membranes of the triads in the sarcoplasmic reticulum . The possibility is considered that the potential difference across the capacitance C e may control the initiation of contraction.

Peripheral muscarinic control of norepinephrine release in the cardiovascular system

1980 ◽  
Vol 239 (6) ◽  
pp. H713-H720 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Muscholl
Keyword(s):  
Physiological Role ◽  
Sympathetic Nerves ◽  
Adrenergic Nerve ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Adrenergic Response ◽  
Adrenergic Nerve Terminals ◽  
Muscarinic Cholinergic ◽  
Related Compounds ◽  
Stimulation Of

Activation of muscarinic cholinergic receptors located at the terminal adrenergic nerve fiber inhibits the process of exocytotic norepinephrine (NE) release. This neuromodulatory effect of acetylcholine and related compounds has been discovered as a pharmacological phenomenon. Subsequently, evidence for a physiological role of the presynaptic muscarinic inhibition was obtained on organs known to be innervated by the autonomic ground plexus (Hillarp, Acta. Physiol. Scand. 46, Suppl. 157: 1-68, 1959) in which terminal adrenergic and cholinergic axons run side by side. Thus, in the heart electrical vagal stimulation inhibits the release of NE evoked by stimulation of sympathetic nerves, and this is reflected by a corresponding decrease in the postsynaptic adrenergic response. On the other hand, muscarinic antagonists such as atropine enhance the NE release evoked by field stimulation of tissues innervated by the autonomic ground plexus. The presynaptic muscarine receptor of adrenergic nerve terminals probably restricts the influx of calcium ions that triggers the release of NE. However, the sequence of events between recognition of the muscarinic compound by the receptor and the process of exocytosis still remains to be clarified.

scholarly journals The interaction between two trains of impulses converging on the same motoneurone

1929 ◽  
Vol 105 (738) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Effect ◽  
The Other ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Flexor Muscle ◽  
Afferent Pathways ◽  
Afferent Nerves ◽  
Maximal Stimulation ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Stimulation Of

It was shown in an earlier paper (7) that if maximal stimulation of either of two different afferent nerves can reflexly excite fractions of a given flexor muscle, there are generally, within the aggregate of neurones which innervate that muscle, motoneurones which can be caused to discharge by either afferent (i. e., motoneurones common to both fractions). The relationship which two such afferents bear to a common motoneurone was shown, by the isometric method of recording contraction, to be such that the activation of one afferent, at a speed sufficient to cause a maximal motor tetanus when trans­mitted to the muscle fibres, caused exclusion of any added mechanical effect when the other afferent was excited concurrently. This default in mechanical effect was called “occlusion.” Occlusion may conceivably be due to total exclusion of the effect of one afferent pathway on the common motoneurone by the activity of the other; but facilitation of the effect of one path by the activation of the other when the stimuli were minimal suggests that, in some circumstances at least, the effect of each could augment and summate with th at of the other at the place of convergence of two afferent pathways. Further investigation, using the action currents of the muscle as indication of the nerve impulses discharged by the motoneurone units, has now given some information regarding the effect of impulses arriving at the locus of convergence by one afferent path when the unit common to both is already discharging in response to impulses arriving by the other afferent path. Our method has been to excite both afferent nerves in overlapping sequence by series of break shocks at a rapid rate and to examine the action currents of the resulting reflex for evidence of the appearance of the rhythm of the second series in the discharge caused by the first when the two series are both reaching the motoneurone.

Experimental evidence for the amino-group non-planarity in nitroanilines: neutron diffraction study of 2-methyl-5-nitroaniline at 100 K

1999 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Ellena ◽  
Andrés E. Goeta ◽  
Judith A. K. Howard ◽  
Chick C. Wilson ◽  
Juan C. Autino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Recognition ◽  
Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Diffraction Study ◽  
Title Compound ◽  
Neutron Diffraction Study ◽  
Amino Group ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Related Compounds ◽  
Centrosymmetric Dimers

An appreciable degree of pyramidalization of the amine N atom is observed in the title compound. The existence of polar chains, induced by N—H...O synthons, is confirmed. C—H...O interactions, not noted in a previous X-ray study, were found to stabilize further the known head-to-tail assembling of the chains. The structure can be described as non-polar (101) layers, embodying chains interlinked by centrosymmetric dimers, connected by C(aryl)—H...π interactions. The latter are not present in m-nitroaniline, 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline and other related compounds with chains built from similar N—H...O synthons and assembled head-to-head. This finding implies that an obvious relationship between molecular recognition patterns and crystal structures should not be assumed.

Effect of Consolidation and Sintering Parameters on the Mechanical Responses of Nanocrystalline Al-Fe Alloy Processed by Mechanical Alloying

2015 ◽  
Vol 719-720 ◽  
pp. 87-90
Author(s):  
Muneer Baig ◽  
Hany Rizk Ammar ◽  
Asiful Hossain Seikh ◽  
Mohammad Asif Alam ◽  
Jabair Ali Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Alloying ◽  
Strain Rate ◽  
Strain Rate Sensitivity ◽  
Compressive Loading ◽  
Rate Sensitivity ◽  
Testing Temperature ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Mechanical Responses ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Frequency Induction

In this investigation, bulk ultra-fine grained and nanocrystalline Al-2 wt.% Fe alloy was produced by mechanical alloying (MA). The powder was mechanically milled in an attritor for 3 hours and yielded an average crystal size of ~63 nm. The consolidation and sintering was performed using a high frequency induction sintering (HFIS) machine at a constant pressure of 50 MPa. The prepared bulk samples were subjected to uniaxial compressive loading over wide range of strain rates for large deformation. To evaluate the effect of sintering conditions and testing temperature on the strain rate sensitivity, strain rate jump experiments were performed at high temperature. The strain rate sensitivity of the processed alloy increased with an increase in temperature. The density of the bulk samples were found to be between 95 to 97%. The average Vickers micro hardness was found to be 132 Hv0.1.

scholarly journals VI. —Anaphylaxis and anaphylatoxins

1923 ◽  
Vol 211 (382-390) ◽  
pp. 273-315 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Anaphylactic Shock ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Direct Stimulation ◽  
Fundamental Conception ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Stimulation Of

In the study of the phenomena of anaphylaxis there are certain points on which some measure of agreement seems to have been attained. In the case of anaphylaxis to soluble proteins, with which alone we are directly concerned in this paper, the majority of investigators probably accept the view that the condition is due to the formation of an antibody of the precipitin type. Concerning the method, however, by which the presence of this antibody causes the specific sensitiveness, the means by which its interaction with the antibody produces the anaphylactic shock, there is a wide divergence of conception. Two main currents of speculation can be discerned. One view, historically rather the earlier, and first put forward by Besredka (1) attributes the anaphylactic condition to the location of the antibody in the body cells. There is not complete unanimity among adherents of this view as to the nature of the antibody concerned, or as to the class of cells containing it which are primarily affected in the anaphylactic shock. Besredka (2) himself has apparently not accepted the identification of the anaphylactic antibody with a precipitin, but regards it as belonging to a special class (sensibilisine). He also regards the cells of the central nervous system as those primarily involved in the anaphylactic shock in the guinea-pig. Others, including one of us (3), have found no adequate reason for rejecting the strong evidence in favour of the precipitin nature of the anaphylactic antibody, produced by Doerr and Russ (4), Weil (5), and others, and have accepted and confirmed the description of the rapid anaphylactic death in the guinea-pig as due to a direct stimulation of the plain-muscle fibres surrounding the bronchioles, causing valve-like obstruction of the lumen, and leading to asphyxia, with the characteristic fixed distension of the lungs, as first described by Auer and Lewis (6), and almost simultaneously by Biedl and Kraus (7). But the fundamental conception of anaphylaxis as due to cellular location of an antibody, and of the reaction as due to the union of antigen and antibody taking place in the protoplasm, is common to a number of workers who thus differ on details.

The Effects of Acclimation Temperature on a Neuromuscular System of the Crayfish, Astacus Leptodactylus

1979 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
MIKKO HARRI ◽  
ERNST FLOREY
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Lipids ◽  
Characteristic Temperature ◽  
Resting Membrane Potential ◽  
Acclimation Temperature ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Astacus Leptodactylus ◽  
Tension Development ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Warm Acclimation

1. Crayfish, Astacus leptodactylus, were acclimated to 12 °C and to 25 °C. Nerve muscle preparations (closer muscle of walking legs) were subjected to temperatures ranging from 6 to 32 °C. 2. The resting membrane potential of muscle fibres was found to increase with temperature in a linear manner, but with a change in slope at around 170 in cold-acclimated preparations, and around 24 °C in warm-acclimated ones. 3. Temperature acclimation shifted the temperature range of maximal amplitudes of fast and slow e.j.p.s toward the acclimation temperature. Optimal facilitation of slow e.j.p.s also occurred near the respective acclimation temperature. 4. E.j.p. decay time is nearly independent of temperature in the upper temperature range but increases steeply when the temperature falls below a critical range around 17 °C in preparations from cold-acclimated animals, and around 22 °C after acclimation to 25 °C. 5. Peak depolarizations reached by summating facilitated e.j.p.s are conspicuously independent of temperature over a wide range (slow and fast e.j.p.s of cold-acclimated preparations, fast e.j.p.s of warm-acclimated ones) which extends to higher temperatures after warm acclimation in the case of fast e.j.p.s. In warm-acclimated preparations the peak depolarization of slow e.j.p.s first falls then rises and falls again as the temperature increases from 8 to 32 °C. 6. Tension development elicited by stimulation of the slow axon at a given frequency reaches maximal values at the lower end of the temperature range in cold-acclimated preparations. The maximum is shifted towards 20 °C after warm acclimation. Fast contractions decline with temperature; possible acclimation effects are masked by the great lability of fast contractions in warm-acclimated preparations. 7. It is suggested that changes in the composition of membrane lipids may be responsible for the effects of acclimation on the electrical parameters and their characteristic temperature dependence.

Gustatory neural coding in the monkey cortex: stimulus quality

1991 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 1156-1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Smith-Swintosky ◽  
C. R. Plata-Salaman ◽  
T. R. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Monosodium Glutamate ◽  
Stimulus Array ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Stimulus Similarity ◽  
Somatosensory Stimulation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Response Profiles ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Extracellular action potentials were recorded from 50 single neurons in the insular-opercular cortex of two alert cynomolgus monkeys during gustatory stimulation of the tongue and palate. 2. Sixteen stimuli, including salts, sugars, acids, alkaloids, monosodium glutamate, and aspartame, were chosen to represent a wide range of taste qualities. Concentrations were selected to elicit a moderate gustatory response, as determined by reference to previous electrophysiological data or to the human psychophysical literature. 3. The cortical region over which taste-evoked activity could be recorded included the frontal operculum and anterior insula, an area of approximately 75 mm3. Taste-responsive cells constituted 50 (2.7%) of the 1,863 neurons tested. Nongustatory cells responded to mouth movement (20.7%), somatosensory stimulation of the tongue (9.6%), stimulus approach or anticipation (1.7%), and tongue extension (0.6%). The sensitivities of 64.6% of these cortical neurons could not be identified by our stimulation techniques. 4. Taste cells had low spontaneous activity levels (3.7 +/- 3.0 spikes/s, mean +/- SD) and showed little inhibition. They were moderately broadly tuned, with a mean entropy coefficient of 0.76 +/- 0.17. Excitatory responses were typically not robust. 5. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine whether neurons could be divided into discrete types, as defined by their response profiles to the entire stimulus array. There was an apparent division of response profiles into four general categories, with primary sensitivities to sodium (n = 18), glucose (n = 15), quinine (n = 12), and acid (n = 5). However, these categories were not statistically independent. Therefore the notion of functionally distinct neuron types was not supported by an analysis of the distribution of response profiles. It was the case, however, that neurons in the sodium category could be distinguished from other neurons by their relative specificity. 6. The similarity among the taste qualities represented by this stimulus array was assessed by calculating correlations between the activity profiles they elicited from these 50 neurons. The results generally confirmed expectations derived from human psychophysical studies. In a multidimensional representation of stimulus similarity, there were groups that contained acids, sodium salts, and chemicals that humans label bitter and sweet. 7. The small proportion of insular-opercular neurons that are taste sensitive and the low discharge rates that taste stimuli are able to evoke from them suggest a wider role for this cortical area than just gustatory coding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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