The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 51, 759-769,
Copyright © 1968 by The Rockefeller University Press
Temperature Dependence of Accommodation and Excitation in Space-Clamped Axons
Rita Guttman 1 and
with the technical assistance of Robert Barnhill
1 From the Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York 11210, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
Accommodation and excitation in space-clamped squid axons were studied with the double sucrose gap technique, using linear current ramps, short (50 µsec) square wave pulses, and rheobasic square wave pulses as stimuli. The temperature was varied from 5° to 35°C. Experimental results showed a Q10 for accommodation which was 44% higher than that for excitation. Yet calculations on the basis of the Hodgkin-Huxley equations predict equal Q10's for excitation and accommodation. Although the Hodgkin-Huxley equations are spectacularly successful for so many nerve phenomena, the differences between calculations of accommodation and these experiments, which were designed to test the equations, show that the equations need modification in this area.
Submitted on November 30, 1967