Na channels in skeletal muscle concentrated near the neuromuscular junction

Neuronal function depends crucially on the spatial segregation of specific membrane proteins, particularly the segregation associated with sites of synaptic contact. Understanding the factors governing this localization of proteins is a major goal of cellular neurobiology. A conspicuous example of synaptic specialization is the almost exclusive localization of vertebrate skeletal muscle acetylcholine (ACh) receptors to the subsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction (for example, refs 1,2). The localization of other membrane proteins in skeletal muscle has been much less studied, but a knowledge of their distribution is crucial for understanding the factors governing regional specialization. We have explored the distribution in muscle of the voltage-gated Na channel responsible for the action potential using the loose patch-clamp technique, and have measured Na currents in 5-10 micron-diameter membrane patches as a function of distance from the end plate region of snake and rat muscle fibres. Here we report that the Na current density immediately adjacent to the endplate is 5-10-fold higher than at regions away from the endplate. The increased Na current density falls off rapidly with distance, reaching the background level 100-200 micron from the endplate. Although one might expect ACh receptors to be concentrated near the region of ACh release, such a concentration for Na channels, which propagate the impulse throughout the length of the cell, is surprising and suggests that factors similar to those responsible for concentrating ACh receptors at the endplate also operate to concentrate Na channels.     

Elastase digested urokinase (ED-UK)

Summary Elastase digested urokinase (ED-UK) was prepared from human high mol. wt urokinase (HMW-UK). It resembled low mol. wt urokinase (LMW-UK) in its mol. wt, specific activity, and active sites. The steady-state kinetic parameters of each enzyme for the activation of human Glu-plasminogen also resembled each other, as did their amidase parameters (with pyro-Glu-Gly-Arg-pNA).     

Bilateral lesions of suprachiasmatic nucleus eliminate circadian rhythms of oxygen consumption and the respiratory quotient in rats

Summary Bilateral lesions of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus of rats abolished circadian rhythms of oxygen consumption and of the respiratory quotient (RQ). The RQ remained constant at a level intermediate between the maximum (about 1.0) and minimum (about 0.9) values in control animals.     

The effect of glycine on serum luteinizing hormone in adult female rats

The response of serum luteinizing hormone to glycine has been studied during the estrous cycle in adult female rats. I.p. administration of 200 mg of glycine significantly elevated serum luteinizing hormone levels at all stages of the estrous cycle.     

An initial phasic depolarization exists in the receptor potential of taste cells.

When frog taste cells were stimulated by varying salts after adaptation to water, quinine or acetic acid, a phasic depolarization appeared initially in the receptor potential of taste cells. The initial transient depolarization may be related to the enhancement of an initial phasic response in the taste nerve.     

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