Spontaneous junctional currents in Drosophila muscle fibres: effects of temperature, membrane potential and ethanol.

Fast, slow and fast multiquantal spontaneous junctional currents were recorded from glutamate sensitive muscle fibres of Drosophila larvae. Decrease of temperature and hyperpolarization prolonged the time course of fast currents. Ethanol (0.4 M) markedly shortened their duration, whereas several other drugs known to modify the time course of currents at cholinergic synapses were ineffective at this neuromuscular junction.