Summary
The sequence of spike-like receptor potentials (RPs) of the tuberous organ of a Mormyrid fish (Gnathonemus petersii) has been studied in vivo. In stable conditions, the receptor is submitted only to the natural effector potentials of the fish, that is, the electric organ discharges (EODs). The intervals of time between RPs were analysed in histograms, considering only the cases with bimodal curves. Two modes of discharges were considered among the mean EOD frequencies: the stable and the burst modes. The burst EODs were shown to regulate the mean frequencies of RPs near a receptor equilibrium frequency. Two series of 10 experiments were performed. In the first series, in 8 experiments a regulation of the receptor mean frequency (RRMF) could be found. In the second, when the EODs of the fish were attenuated previously by a bath to which a curarizing agent had been added, only in 4 experiments a RRMF was found. Both modes of EODs are needed during RRMF, suggesting a counting mechanism during the stable mode of the effector. A parallelism between behavior, EODs and RP rates and RRMF is suggested.
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The author is indebted to Dr. A. Fessard and Dr. T. Szabo for having received him at the Centre d'Etudes de Physiologie Nerveuse, Paris, to Dr. C. Chagas for his encouragement, to Dr. P. Belbenoit and Dr. R. Bauer for their discussions and suggestions, to Dr. J. Robert for his comments, to Mr. M. Boudinot and to Miss B. Consigny for their assistance, to Dr. H. Rothschild for having reviewed this manuscript. The author thanks also ASTEF, GULBENKIAN, CNPq and CAPES for French, Portuguese and Brazilian grants, respectively.
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Pimentel-Souza, F. Regulation of the electroreceptor potential frequency by the electric discharge ofGnathonemus petersii . J. Comp. Physiol. 111, 115–125 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605527
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605527