| Abstract: | The amplitudes of motor end-plate potentials in the Frog have been measured during repetitive stimulations of the motor nerve at frequencies between 0,5 and 30 Hz. A serial analysis showed that cyclic variations of these amplitudes were superimposed on the random fluctuation of epp due to the quantal nature of transmitter release. The period of these cyclic variations varied between 3 and 10 stimulations. This period was not significantly related to the frequency of the stimulation. The frequency spectrum analysis of the epp amplitudes showed similar values for the period of the cyclic variation of epp. The same kind of analysis applied to a binomial series of random numbers did not significantly present periodic fluctuations. The same analysis was applied to mean amplitudes of groups of 5 to 120 successive epps at the same end-plate. Periodic fluctuations were identified with periods of about 10 to 180 sec. It is suggested that periodic failures of nerve spike propagation in nerve terminals at sites of low safety factor, as at branchings, are responsible for the observed cyclic variation of epp. |
