AN ANALYSIS OF SYNAPTIC EXCITATORY ACTION

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Abstract
The interaction between 2 monosynaptic reflexes from synergic muscles has been analyzed. Superimposed on the standard facilitation curve there is often a brief facilitation process which virtually disappears with stimulus intervals longer than 1 msec. This brief facilitation process called the alpha response is clearly separable by its very brief synaptic delay (0.4 msec.) from the normal facilitated spike (the beta response) which has a synaptic delay of 0.85 msec, and which always is responsible for the standard facilitation curve with half-time decay of 2-3 msec. Usually the response gives both the quick and slow facilitation curves, for the alpha response is too small to dominate the facilitated spike complex. When the testing volley arrives at the motor nucleus at about the time of the reflex discharges set up by the conditioning volley, this reflex discharge is momentarily delayed by about 0.05 msec. The above observations have been explained in terms of the recent electrical hypothesis of synaptic transmission, which thus receives substantial exptl. support. They also correlated with the various exptl. observations relating to the postulate of the detonator response, which is thus also assimilated into the electrical hypothesis of transmission.

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