The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 85 No. 5 May 2001, pp. 2070-2075
Copyright ©2001 by the American Physiological Society

Effect of Temperature on Endplate Potential Rundown and Recovery in Rat Diaphragm

Pulmonary Division, Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University; and Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Moyer, Michelle and Erik van Lunteren. Effect of Temperature on Endplate Potential Rundown and Recovery in Rat Diaphragm. J. Neurophysiol. 85: 2070-2075, 2001. The amplitude of neuromuscular junction end-plate potentials (EPPs) decreases quickly within a train but recovers nearly completely from train to train during intermittent stimulation. Rundown has been shown to be dependent not only on the rate of transmitter release but also on the rate of replenishment of the depleted neurotransmitter at the site of release. Two groups of processes have been proposed for synaptic vesicle recycling, both of which involve multiple energy-requiring steps and enzymatic reactions and which therefore would be expected to be very temperature-sensitive. The present study tested the hypothesis that low temperature therefore increases the rate of EPP amplitude rundown. Studies were performed in vitro on rat diaphragm and used µ-conotoxin to allow normal-sized EPPs to be recorded from intact fibers. EPP amplitude rundown during intermittent stimulation at 20 and 50 Hz (duty cycle 333 ms) was greater at 20°C than it was at 37°C. Initially, temperature affected only intra-train rundown but, over longer periods of stimulation, both intra- and inter-train rundown were significantly accelerated by cold temperature. Cumulative EPP amplitudes were calculated by successively adding the amplitudes of each EPP during the stimulation period to provide an estimate of total neurotransmitter release in the neuromuscular junction. The cumulative EPP amplitude was significantly lower at 20°C than it was at 37°C during both 20 and 50 Hz stimulation. These data indicate that the mechanism involved in EPP amplitude rundown and recovery is temperature-sensitive, with a greater decrement in EPP amplitude at cold than at warm temperatures.