FROM MUSCLES TO MEMORY - AN EXERCISE IN TRANSMITTER ACTION INCLUDING SOME PHILOSOPHICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH

The author reviews his studies of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) in muscles of rodents, chickens, frogs, fish and earthworms. The experiments included the measurements of the muscle contracture fo rce, of membrane currents by intracellular and patch electrodes and of Ca2+ uptake. They demonstrated the cation binding to the AChR, the in tracellular mediators of Ca2+-release from cellular stores, and the Ca 2+-entry facilitated by acetylcholine in the presence of non-permeant cations such as N-methyl-D- glucamine. A number of studies was devoted to the desensitization of the AChR. In denervated rodent muscles, a n on-desensitizing current component apparently carried mainly to Na+ ha s been documented.