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Desensitization at the Motor Endplate

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Drug Receptors

Part of the book series: Biological Council

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Abstract

The transience of the effect of acetylcholine (ACh) was described more than thirty-five years ago, almost simultaneously with the experimental evidence about the key role of ACh in neuromuscular transmission (Brown, Dale & Feldberg, 1936; Cowan, 1936). The depolarization induced by ACh at the postjunctional membrane of the muscle fibre reaches a maximum and then begins to fall gradually, despite the fact that the ACh concentration remains constant. This phenomenon, named ‘desensitization’ (Thesleff, 1955, 1960), has been observed not only in skeletal muscle but also at other kinds of chemosensitive tissue such as electroplax and nerve cells.

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© 1973 Institute of Biology Endowment Trust Fund

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Magazanik, L.G., Vyskočil, F. (1973). Desensitization at the Motor Endplate. In: Rang, H.P. (eds) Drug Receptors. Biological Council. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00910-7_8

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