Burst discharge in mammalian neuroendocrine cells involves an intrinsic regenerative mechanism.
Intracellular recordings from mammalian neuroendocrine cells showed that steady, injected currents can modify and block periodic spike bursts previously associated with increased neurohormone release. Spike afterpotentials could sum to form plateau potentials, which generated bursts and did not depend on axonal conduction or chemical synapses. Therefore, bursting involves a spike-dependent, positive-feedback mechanism endogenous to single neuroendocrine cells.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005246:Feedback; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology
D013779:Tetrodotoxin