Serotonin induces a voltage-sensitive calcium current in neurons of Aplysia californica.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T C Pellmar.
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The effect of penicillin on neurons of Aplysia californica was studied using drug concentrations which would be convulsant in mammalian nervous systems. Iontophoretic responses were elicited by the application of acetylcholine, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid and serotonin. Low concentrations of penicillin (2 mM) consistently and reversibly reduced the chloride-dependent hyperpolarizing responses by approximately 70%, regardless of the transmitter required to evoke them. The short depolarizing responses which are sodium sensitive are slightly reduced by a much higher (10 mM) concentration. The extent of the reduction of the excitatory response varied with the transmitter. The slow sodium-dependent depolarizations and the slow potassium-dependent hyperpolarizations were unaffected by the concentrations of penicillin used. The possibility that the convulsant effect of penicillin is due to interference with membrane conductance to chloride is discussed.
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In the neurons of Aplysia californica pentylenetetrazole (2 millimolar) greatly reduced chloride-dependent responses to the iontophoresis of putative transmitters. At the same concentration, pentylenetetrazole caused less attenuation of the other iontophoretic responses and had minimal membrane effects. Several convulsants have been observed to have a similar selectivity for the chloride conductance. A common mechanism of convulsant action--reduction of transmitter-induced chloride conductances--is hypothesized.
The commonly used buffering agent tris(hydroxymethyl)methylamine (tris) antagonizes the action of iontophoretically applied acetylcholine on neurons of Aplysia californica. Concentrations of 5 to 10 millimolar tris markedly reduced both excitatory and inhibitory responses.
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