On the Relation Between Excitation Wave and Configuration of Action Current in the Akiyama Model of Excitation Conduction

Abstract

At present, the state of the excited site during excitation conduction along the nerve or muscle fiber is exclusively estimated from action potential led monopolarly or bipolarly.Consequently there have been innumerable reports (1) on the configuration of action potential. Such reports have still morebeen increased in number with the recent advance in the techniques for intracellular microelectrode.However, because of difference in experimental conditions such as materials or leading arrangement, recorded potential change was varied according to workers, and consequently duration of excitation, wave length and others which were estimated from the configuration of action potential also differed.Moreover, since the excited site, the source of the electric change, cannot directly be observed except the potential change, we have now no means to know the correspondence between the excited site and the electric change. On the other hand, the determination ofthe conduction velocity or duration of excitation by means of the recorded diphasic action potential would often fall into a great error as recently pointed out by Kobayashi(2). In view of these, we undertook the experiments of the above mentioned problems with the electrochemical model of excitation conduction. Especially we used the Akiyama model of excitation conduction (3), in which the conduction velocity is small, and which, and in other respects, is very convenient to find out relation between the action current and the excitation wave.In this way we may obtain data for reference in the estimation of the state of conduction wave from the recorded action potential. MATERIALS AND METHODS