The timing of calcium action during neuromuscular transmission

Abstract

1. When a nerve—muscle preparation is paralysed by tetrodotoxin, brief depolarizing pulses applied to a motor nerve ending cause packets of acetylcholine to be released and evoke end‐plate potentials (e.p.p.s), provided calcium ions are present in the extracellular fluid. 2. By ionophoretic discharge from a 1 M‐CaCl 2 pipette, it is possible to produce a sudden increase in the local calcium concentration at the myoneural junction, at varying times before or after the depolarizing pulse. 3. A brief application of calcium facilitates transmitter release if it occurs immediately before the depolarizing pulse. If the calcium pulse is applied a little later, during the period of the synaptic delay, it is ineffective. 4. It is concluded that the utilization of external calcium ions at the neuromuscular junction is restricted to a brief period which barely outlasts the depolarization of the nerve ending, and which precedes the transmitter release itself. 5. The suppressing effect of magnesium on transmitter release was studied by a similar method, with ionophoretic discharges from a 1 M‐MgCl 2‐filled pipette. The results, though not quite as clear as with calcium, indicate that Mg pulses also are only effective if they precede the depolarizing pulses.