Temperature characteristics of excitability in the squid giant axon were measured for the space-clamped axon with the double sucrose gap technique. Threshold strength-duration curves were obtained for square wave current pulses from 10 µsec to 10 msec and at temperatures from 5°C to 35°C. The threshold change of potential, at which an action potential separated from a subthreshold response, averaged 17 mv at 20°C with a Q10 of 1.15. The average threshold current density at rheobase was 12 µa/cm2 at 20°C with a Q10 of 2.35 compared to 2.3 obtained previously. At short times the threshold charge was 1.5·10-8 coul/cm2. This was relatively independent of temperature and occasionally showed a minimum in the temperature range. At intermediate times and all temperatures the threshold currents were less than for both the single time constant model and the two factor excitation process as developed by Hill. FitzHugh has made computer investigations of the effect of temperature on the excitation of the squid axon membrane as represented by the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. These are in general in good agreement with our experimental results.
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May 01 1966
Temperature Characteristics of Excitation in Space-Clamped Squid Axons
Rita Guttman,
Rita Guttman
From the Laboratory of Biophysics, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and the Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York
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with the technical assistance of Robert Barnhill
with the technical assistance of Robert Barnhill
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Rita Guttman
From the Laboratory of Biophysics, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and the Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York
with the technical assistance of Robert Barnhill
Received:
September 09 1965
Online ISSN: 1540-7748
Print ISSN: 0022-1295
Copyright © 1966 by The Rockefeller University Press
1966
J Gen Physiol (1966) 49 (5): 1007–1018.
Article history
Received:
September 09 1965
Citation
Rita Guttman, with the technical assistance of Robert Barnhill; Temperature Characteristics of Excitation in Space-Clamped Squid Axons . J Gen Physiol 1 May 1966; 49 (5): 1007–1018. doi: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.49.5.1007
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