The radicular pain of sciatica was ascribed by Mixter and Barr to compression of thespinal root by a hernia~d intervertebral disc. It was assumed that root compression produced prolonged firing in the injured sensory fibers and led to pain perceived in tho peripheral distribution of those fibers. This concept has been challenged on the basis that acute peripheral nerve compression neuropathies ...

INTRODUCTION The firing behavior of motoneurons is governed by the interaction between the intrinsic properties of motoneurons and the synaptic inputs that they receive. In particular, long-lasting afterhyperpolarization (AHP) following each motoneuron spike and thus decreasing motoneuron excitability immediately after spike was found to be a key mechanism in controlling of interspike interval ...

Activation of skeletal muscle fibers requires rapid sarcolemmal action potential (AP) conduction to ensure uniform excitation along the fiber length, as well as successful tubular excitation to initiate excitation-contraction coupling. In our companion paper in this issue, Pedersen et al. (2011. J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1085/jgp.201010510) quantify, for subthreshold stimuli, the influence upon b...

The membrane currents responsible for induced pace-maker activity in frog atrial muscle were investigated using a double sucrose gap technique. The trabecula was clamped to the potential from which pace-making started (35—40 mV positive to resting potential) and immediately after that a test pulse was applied and the membrane inward current was measured. When the duration of the conditioning pu...

Clinically available antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) decrease membrane excitability by interacting with neurotransmitter receptors or ion channels. AEDs developed before 1980 appear to act on sodium (Na) channels, gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptors, or calcium (Ca) channels. Benzodiazepines and barbiturates enhance GABAA-receptor-mediated inhibition. Phenytoin, carbamazepine and, possibly, ...

The electrical membrane properties of subthalamic (STH) neurons and their response characteristics to stimulation of the internal capsule (IC) were studied in an in vitro slice preparation. Most STH neurons recorded exhibited spontaneous repetitive firing. The input resistance of STH neurons was 146 +/- 48 M omega and showed both an anomalous and a delayed rectification when the membrane was hy...

Smooth muscle (SM) develops only in organs and sites that sustain mechanical tensions. Therefore, we determined the role of stretch in mouse and human bronchial myogenesis. Sustained stretch induced expression of SM proteins in undifferentiated mesenchymal cells and accelerated the differentiation of cells undergoing myogenesis. Moreover, bronchial myogenesis was entirely controlled in lung org...

Space-clamped squid axons treated with low calcium and computed Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) axons were stimulated by steps of superthreshold current from 101 to 400% of the rheobasic value over a temperature range of 5-27 degrees C. The natural frequency of sustained repetitive firing of real and computed axons depended weakly upon stimulus intensity and strongly upon temperature, with a Q(10) of 2.7 (...