HYDROSTATIC-PRESSURE REDUCES SYNAPTIC EFFICIENCY BY INHIBITING TRANSMITTER RELEASE

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 8  (3) , 175-183
Abstract
The amplitude of postsynaptic potentials at an identified synapse in the Aplysia californica CNS can be modulated by the application of hydrostatic pressure. Postsynaptically controlled functions, including responses to acetylcholine and the time course of decay of the synaptic responses, remain unaffected by compression. In contrast, frequency facilitation and posttetanic potentiation, which result from presynaptic processes, are altered by pressure in a manner similar to that of agents that block transmitter release. Pressure reduces synaptic efficiency by interfering with certain presynaptic mechanisms associated with transmitter release. [Hydrostatic pressure is recognized as the basis of a serious clinical disorder, the high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS), associated with deep diving in humans.].