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Bioelectrochemistry of Cells and Tissues pp 1–33Cite as

Electric organs and their innervation: A model system for the study of cholinergic function

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Part of the book series: Bioelectrochemistry: Principles and Practice ((BPP,volume 2))

Abstract

Electric organs and the ability to deliver an electric shock are found only in fish and their occurrence in a number of unrelated species provides a remarkable example of convergent evolution (Table 1). Electric organs consist of stacks of cells (electrocytes), usually, if not invariably, derived during embryonic development from myoblasts. When such cells are caused to discharge by the nerves supplying them, the transient post-synaptic potentials that they generate summate, in series and in parallel, causing a current to flow in the surrounding water. When this current is sufficient to stun prey, as with the elasmobranch electric rays of the family Torpedinidae and the Gymnotid eel Electrophorus electricus, a fresh-water teleost of the Amazon and other South American rivers, the organ is said to be strongly electric. When the discharge is feeble and serves as the basis for a system of electrolocation, as in the Gymnarchidae of African and the distantly related Gymnotidae of South American rivers, the organ is said to be weakly electric.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen, Germany

    Victor P. Whittaker (Emeritus scientist)

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  1. Victor P. Whittaker
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Dieter Walz

  2. IMB-BEC, POB 100 813, D-07708, Jena, Germany

    Hermann Berg Ph.D. (Emeritus Professor) (Emeritus Professor)

  3. Bioelectrochemistry Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, D-07708, Jena, Germany

    Hermann Berg Ph.D. (Emeritus Professor) (Emeritus Professor)

  4. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

    Giulio Milazzo (Professor) (Professor)

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© 1995 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland

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Whittaker, V.P. (1995). Electric organs and their innervation: A model system for the study of cholinergic function. In: Walz, D., Berg, H., Milazzo, G. (eds) Bioelectrochemistry of Cells and Tissues. Bioelectrochemistry: Principles and Practice, vol 2. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9063-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9063-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-9890-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-9063-2

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