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Muscarinic suppression of a novel voltage-sensitive K+ current in a vertebrate neurone

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Abstract

Cholinergic excitation of vertebrate neurones is frequently mediated through the action of acetylcholine on muscarinic (atropine-sensitive) receptors. This type of excitation differs substantially from the better known nicotinic excitation. One difference is that, instead of an increased membrane conductance, a decreased conductance (to K+ ions) frequently accompanies muscarinic depolarisation. This has been detected in sympathetic1–4, cortical5 and hippocampal6 neurones. Using voltage-clamped frog sympathetic neurones we have now identified a distinctive voltage-sensitive K+ -current, separate from the delayed rectifier current, as the prime target for muscarinic agonists. We have termed this current the M-current, IM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77550

    D. A. Brown & P. R. Adams

  2. Department of Pharmacology. The School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29–39 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AX

    D. A. Brown

Authors
  1. D. A. Brown
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  2. P. R. Adams
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Brown, D., Adams, P. Muscarinic suppression of a novel voltage-sensitive K+ current in a vertebrate neurone. Nature 283, 673–676 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/283673a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/283673a0

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