EFFECTS EVOKED IN AN AXON BY THE ACTIVITY OF A CONTIGUOUS ONE

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Abstract
The electric reactions evoked in one isolated Sepia axon by active potentials in another in contact with it (ephapse) were studied. The postephaptic axon was acted upon by current spread from the preephaptic one, and the degree of activation depended on the properties of the preephaptic action potential and on the geometrical conditions of contact. Stimulation was most effective when the arrangement caused the preephaptic spread to end in a negative wave, least when it ended in a positive wave. When the postephaptic axon was sub-liminally excited, it yielded a local potential which might show damped oscillations; when liminally excited, a spike arose from the negative crest of the local potential. With the postephaptic axon spontaneously and rhythmically active, ephaptic stimulation altered rhythm in a predictable manner. These results are considered in relation to synaptic transmission and other interaction phenomena between central neurones.

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