Depression of transmitter release at the neuromuscular junction of the frog

Abstract

1. Depression of transmitter release produced by preceding conditioning stimulation was studied at the frog's neuromuscular junction.2. Depression occurred when transmitter release was restricted to a short length of nerve terminal, or when release was initiated by electrotonic depolarization of the terminals after action potentials were abolished by tetrodotoxin.3. Quantitative studies revealed a non-linear relationship between the estimated magnitude of ;zero-time' depression and the amount of transmitter released by conditioning stimulation.4. Two stimuli separated by 20-200 msec were given and the ratio of the end-plate potential amplitudes (V(2)/V(1)) was measured. This amplitude ratio increased during depression produced by stimuli preceding the test pair.5. These observations may be explained by assuming that depression is associated with a reduction in release probability as well as a depletion of transmitter available for release.