ARTICLE

Effect of tetrodotoxin

L. Binstock ¹ and L. Goldman ¹

¹ From The Laboratory of Biophysics, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, and the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland 21201

A new dissection procedure for preparing Myxicola giant axons for observation under voltage clamp is described. Preparation time is generally 40–45 min. 65–70% of the preparations attempted may be brought through the entire procedure, including insertion of the long internal electrode, and support an initial action potential amplitude of 100 mv or greater. Mean values for axon diameter, resting membrane potential, action potential amplitude, maximum peak inward transient current, and resting membrane resistance are 560 µ, —66.5 mv, 112 mv, 0.87 ma/cm² and 1.22 K cm ² respectively. Cut branches do not seem to be a problem in this preparation. Behavior under voltage clamp is reasonably stable over several hours. Reductions in maximum inward transient current of 10% and in steady-state current of 5–10% are expected in the absence of any particular treatment. Tetrodotoxin blocks the action potential and both the inward and outward transient current, but has no effect on either the resting membrane potential or the steady-state current. This selective action of tetrodotoxin on the transient current is taken as an indication that this current component is probably carried by Na.

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