The Journal of General Physiology
Sign up for e-mail content alerts
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow PDF (Full Text)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JGP
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tauc, L.
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, G. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tauc, L.
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, G. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 46, 533-549, Copyright © 1963 by The Rockefeller University Press

ARTICLE

Modes of Initiation and Propagation of Spikes in the Branching Axons of Molluscan Central Neurons

L. Tauc 1 and G. M. Hughes 1

1 Centre d'Etudes de Physiologie nerveuse du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, and Institut de Biologie marine, Arcachon, France.

Dr. Hughes' present address is the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, England

A study has been made of Aplysia nerve cells, mainly in the pleural ganglia, in which the main axon divides into at least two branches in the neighbourhood of the soma. Conduction between these branches was investigated by intracellular recordings from the soma following antidromic stimulation via the nerves containing the axonal branches. It has been shown that transmission between separate branches need not involve discharge of the soma but only of the axonal region between the soma and the origin of the branches. In some cells, the spike may fail to invade the other axonal branch, whereas transmission in the opposite direction is readily achieved. Often spikes in none of the branches are transmitted to the others, unless facilitated. Indications about the geometry of the neuron in the vicinity of the soma may be obtained from the study of the relative size of the A spikes originated in different branches. These observations, together with the presence of different sizes of A spikes, produced by orthodromic stimulation, provide evidence that spikes initiated at separate axonal "trigger zones" of Aplysia neurons may be conducted selectively to the effectors or other neurons innervated by the particular branch.

Submitted on July 9, 1962


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
C. G. Evans, T. Kang, and E. C. Cropper
Selective Spike Propagation in the Central Processes of an Invertebrate Neuron
J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2008; 100(5): 2940 - 2947.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
A. Mar and P. Drapeau
Modulation of Conduction Block in Leech Mechanosensory Neurons
J. Neurosci., July 15, 1996; 16(14): 4335 - 4343.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
F. Dudek and J. Blankenship
Neuroendocrine (bag) cells of Aplysia: spike blockade and a mechanism for potentiation
Science, June 4, 1976; 192(4243): 1009 - 1010.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
B. Mulloney and A. Selverston
Antidromic Action Potentials Fail to Demonstrate Known Interactions between Neurons
Science, July 7, 1972; 177(4043): 69 - 72.
[Abstract] [PDF]


  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents