title: The mode of spontaneous transmitter release at the insect neuromuscular junction.
abstract: The time intervals between miniature excitatory postsynaptic potentials and the counts of them in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, were analyzed, using a computer program to test for properties of a Poisson process. The miniature potentials occurred basically in random manner at this neuromuscular junction. Although the distribution of the potentials did not fit the criteria for a Poisson process when the muscle fiber exhibited the short burst of high-frequency discharges, it was suggested that the primary process of such a distribution is Poisson, which is occasionally contaminated by the burst phase of the release rates.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003058:Cockroaches; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000378:metabolism*; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D011336:Probability; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents