The Effects of Low Energy X-Rays on Membrane Potential, Membrane Resistance and Action Potential of Nitella flexilis

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 491 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Röttinger ◽  
O. Hug ◽  
E. M. Rottinger

1962 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1195-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred J. Julian ◽  
John W. Moore ◽  
David E. Goldman

A method similar to the sucrose-gap technique introduced be Stäpfli is described for measuring membrane potential and current in singly lobster giant axons (diameter about 100 micra). The isotonic sucrose solution used to perfuse the gaps raises the external leakage resistance so that the recorded potential is only about 5 per cent less than the actual membrane potential. However, the resting potential of an axon in the sucrose-gap arrangement is increased 20 to 60 mv over that recorded by a conventional micropipette electrode when the entire axon is bathed in sea water. A complete explanation for this effect has not been discovered. The relation between resting potential and external potassium and sodium ion concentrations shows that potassium carries most of the current in a depolarized axon in the sucrose-gap arrangement, but that near the resting potential other ions make significant contributions. Lowering the external chloride concentration decreases the resting potential. Varying the concentration of the sucrose solution has little effect. A study of the impedance changes associated with the action potential shows that the membrane resistance decreases to a minimum at the peak of the spike and returns to near its initial value before repolarization is complete (a normal lobster giant axon action potential does not have an undershoot). Action potentials recorded simultaneously by the sucrose-gap technique and by micropipette electrodes are practically superposable.



1959 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Maéno

Electrical characteristics and their changes during activation were studied with the microelectrodes on the oocytes and eggs of the toad, Bufo vulgaris formosus Boulenger. In young oocytes, the membrane characteristics had some similarities to those of nerve and muscle, except for a relatively large resistance of 25 KΩcm.2 and an absence of the action potential in the former. After maturation, however, the membrane characteristics became entirely different from those of oocytes and other excitable tissues. In the mature eggs the membrane resistance was measured to be as high as 200 KΩcm.2, and no specific permeability of the membrane to potassium ions was observable. A slow monophasic change in the membrane potential was recorded in every activation produced by mechanical stimulation, and termed "activation potential." In fresh water, its amplitude was as large as 80 to 90 mv. with an overshoot of about 50 mv. The activation potential might be comparable to the action potential of nerve and muscle, but was fundamentally different in ionic mechanism from the latter, since the former was caused by a marked increase in permeability to chloride ions.



1964 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Herzog ◽  
R. M. Feibel ◽  
S. H. Bryant

In the giant axon of Loligo pealii, "aconitine potent" Merck added to the bath (10-7 to 1.25 x 10-6 gm/ml) (a) had no effect on resting membrane potential, membrane resistance and rectification, membrane response to subthreshold currents, critical depolarization, or action potential, but (b) on repetitive stimulation produced oscillations of membrane potential after the spike, depolarization, and decrease of membrane resistance. The effect sums with successive action potentials; it increases with concentration of aconitine, time of exposure, and frequency of stimulation. When the oscillations are large enough and the membrane potential is 51.6 ± SD 1.5 mv a burst of self-sustained activity begins; it usually lasts 20 to 70 sec. and at its end the membrane potential is 41.5 ± SD 1.9 mv. Repolarization occurs with a time constant of 2.5 to 11.1 min. Substitution of choline for external sodium after a burst hyperpolarizes the membrane to -70 mv, and return to normal external sodium depolarizes again beyond the resting membrane potential. The effect of aconitine on the membrane is attributed to an increase of sodium and potassium or chloride conductances following the action potential.



1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Krnjevic ◽  
W. G. Van Meter

The most striking effects of intracellular injections of adenosine 3′5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) into spinal mononeurons in cats are a speeding-up of the action potential, both its rising and falling phase, and a potentiation of the after-hyperpolarization; the latter probably indicates a marked enhancement of Ca2+ influx. In this respect, cAMP and guanosine 3′5′-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) have similar actions, though cAMP appears to be more potent. It is suggested that through this mechanism, cyclic nucleotides may play an important role in synaptic facilitation. Changes in resting membrane potential and resistance are less conspicuous or predictable. By contrast, both agents, when injected into unresponsive cells, presumed to be neuroglia, regularly cause a drop in membrane resistance; this is associated with hyperpolarization and therefore likely to reflect an increase in membrane K+ conductance.



1957 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 859-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiji Tasaki ◽  
Susumu Hagiwara

1. Intracellular injection of tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) into a giant axon of the squid prolongs the duration of the action potential without changing the resting potential (Fig. 3). The prolongation is sometimes 100-fold or more. 2. The action potential of a giant axon treated with TEA has an initial peak followed by a plateau (Fig. 3). The membrane resistance during the plateau is practically normal (Fig. 4). Near the end of the action potential, there is an apparent increase in the membrane resistance (Fig. 5D and Fig. 6, right). 3. The phenomenon of abolition of action potentials was demonstrated in the squid giant axon treated with TEA (Fig. 7). Following an action potential abolished in its early phase, there is no refractoriness (Fig. 8). 4. By the method of voltage clamp, the voltage-current relation was investigated on normal squid axons as well as on axons treated with TEA (Figs. 9 and 10). 5. The presence of stable states of the membrane was demonstrated by clamping the membrane potential with two voltage steps (Fig. 11). Experimental evidence was presented showing that, in an "unstable" state, the membrane conductance is not uniquely determined by the membrane potential. 6. The effect of low sodium water was investigated in the axon treated with TEA (Fig. 12). 7. The similarity between the action potential of a squid axon under TEA and that of the vertebrate cardiac muscle was stressed. The experimental results were interpreted as supporting the view that there are two stable states in the membrane. Initiation and abolition of an action potential were explained as transitions between the two states.



1959 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1167-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uichiro Kishimoto ◽  
Hiromichi Akabori

The sudden cessation or sudden decrease in velocity of the protoplasmic streaming of Nitella flexilis is observed whenever an action potential is elicited. The action potential can be generated by an electric stimulus after its refractory period, whether the flow is at a complete standstill or on the way to recovery. The membrane potential is generally decreased more or less when the rate of flow is decreased on application of salts or other agents. There is, however, no parallelism between these two. The membrane potential decreases proportionally with applied voltage of subthreshold intensity, while the rate of flow does not change appreciably. Only on application of a superthreshold voltage does the flow stop suddenly. In one case the rate of flow decreased to half without appreciable decrease in membrane potential. In another case it continued flowing at about one-half rate, although the membrane potential was almost zero. The Q10 of the rate of flow is about 2, while it is 1.1 to 1.5 for the membrane potential. The sudden cessation of the protoplasmic streaming is supposed to be caused by the temporary formation of certain interlinkages among contractile protein networks in the endoplasm during excitation at the cathodal half of Nitella.



Metrologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (1A) ◽  
pp. 06013-06013 ◽  
Author(s):  
D T Burns ◽  
P Roger ◽  
M Denozière ◽  
E Leroy
Keyword(s):  
X Rays ◽  




2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (spe) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos de Austerlitz ◽  
Viviane Souza ◽  
Heldio Pereira Villar ◽  
Aloisio Cordilha

The performance of four X-ray qualities generated in a Pantak X-ray machine operating at 30-100 kV was determined with a parallel-plate ionization chamber and a Fricke dosimeter. X-ray qualities used were those recommended by Deutsch Internationale Normung DIN 6809 and dose measurements were carried out with Plexiglas® simulators. Results have shown that the Fricke dosimeter can be used not only for soft X-ray dosimetry, but also for the maintenance of low-energy measuring systems' calibration factor.



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