title: Nerve conduction velocity decrease and synaptic transmission alterations in caffeine-treated rats.
abstract: The action of caffeine on peripheral neuromuscular function was studied by means of in vivo determinations of electrophysiological parameters, i.e., amplitude of extracellularly recorded muscle action potentials and nerve conduction velocity in the dorsal skeletal muscle and caudal nerve of the rat tail, respectively. Repeated exposure of the rats was carried out by adding caffeine to the drinking water for 10 days. Here we report the novel finding that motor nerve conduction velocity showed a significant decrease in caffeine-treated animals, whereas no change was observed in the amplitude of indirectly evoked extracellular muscle action potentials. The physiological recovery of the amplitude of the compound muscle action potential observed in nonintoxicated rats after high-frequency stimulation (10 Hz) was not observed in intoxicated animals and is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raya
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cuervo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Macián
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romá
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine