Muscarinic suppression of a novel voltage-sensitive K+ current in a vertebrate neurone
Abstract
Cholinergic excitation of vertebrate neurones is frequently mediated through the action of acetylcholine on muscarinic (atropine-sensitive) receptors. This type of excitation differs substantially from the better known nicotinic excitation. One difference is that, instead of an increased membrane conductance, a decreased conductance (to K+ ions) frequently accompanies muscarinic depolarisation. This has been detected in sympathetic1-4, cortical5 and hippocampal6 neurones. Using voltage-clamped frog sympathetic neurones we have now identified a distinctive voltage-sensitive K+ -current, separate from the delayed rectifier current, as the prime target for muscarinic agonists. We have termed this current the M-current, IM.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- February 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1038/283673a0
- Bibcode:
- 1980Natur.283..673B