Electrical and chemical synaptic transmission as an interacting system.
It is proposed that presynaptic potassium efflux triggered by the nerve impulse may generate either excitatory or inhibitory responses depending on the neurotransmitter which more or less steadily impregnates the postsynaptic membrane. The jelly intersynaptic matrix may potentiate the efficiency of inoic intersynaptic signals. The synaptic vesicles are proposed to shuttle mitochondrial ATP towards the presynaptic membrane, thereby supplying the energy necessary to restore the membrane polarity after synaptic transmission. Plain structural data and currently accepted functional antecedents appear to justify the proposal.
González-Aguilar
F
F
Departamento de Biologia Cellular i Anatomia Patològica, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
D000818:Animals; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*