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Dynamics of Acetylcholine Compartments at Rest and During Nerve Activity

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Metabolic Compartmentation and Neurotransmission

Abstract

With our present methods, it is almost impossible to study the synaptic transmission of nerve impulses at the molecular level unless a homogeneous system is used. The electric organ of Torpedo, the electric fish, provides just such a system, since it is composed of a large number of vertical stacks of electroplaques whose ventral faces are covered with a great number of nerve endings (Figure 1). The electroplaques are homologous to the motor endplate of voluntary muscle in three ways: morphologically, with respect to the chemical transmitter, and in the existence of miniature endplate potentials (m.e.e.p.) (Figure 2). The cholinergic nature of transmission in the electric organ of Torpedo was first demonstrated by Feldberg, Fessard, and Nachmansohn (Feldberg et al., 1940; Feldberg and Fessard, 1942) in the Marine Station of Arcachon.

This review of a recent multidisciplinary study of synaptic transmission in the electric organ was undertaken in collaboration with E. Babel-Guérin, M. Chmouliovsky, J. Gautron, L. Hirt, P. Jirounek, B. Lesbats, R. Manaranche, R. M. Marchbanks, P. Mastour-Frachon, and S. Tuček. We are grateful to Drs. Boisseau, Cazaux, and Labour and their colleagues of the Marine Station of Arcachon, who have made this study possible.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe de Neurochimie Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Cellulaire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Maurice Israël

  2. Département de Pharmacologie, Ecole de Médecine, Geneva, Switzerland

    Yves Dunant

Authors
  1. Maurice Israël
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  2. Yves Dunant
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Soll Berl

  2. Fordham University, Bronx, New York, USA

    D. D. Clarke

  3. Neurosciences Research Program, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Diana Schneider

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© 1975 Plenum Press, New York

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Israël, M., Dunant, Y. (1975). Dynamics of Acetylcholine Compartments at Rest and During Nerve Activity. In: Berl, S., Clarke, D.D., Schneider, D. (eds) Metabolic Compartmentation and Neurotransmission. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4319-6_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4319-6_38

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4321-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-4319-6

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