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© 1987 Oxford University Press

RESEARCH-ARTICLE

Spontaneous Action Potential Initiation and Propagation in Regenerating Cell Segments of Acetabularia mediterranea

PANOTE THAVARUNGKUL 1, SOMSAK LERTSITHICHAI 2 and ROBERT A SHERLOCK 3

Department of Physics, University of Waikato, Private Bag Hamilton, New Zealand

Thavarungkul, P., Lertsithichai, S. and Sherlock, R. A. 1987. Spontaneous action potential initiation and propagation in regenerating cell segments of Acetabularia mediterranea.—J. exp. Bot. 38: 1541–1556.

The spontaneous action potentials which occur during the regeneration of anucleate isolated stalk segments (ISS's) of the unicellular alga Acetabulana mediterranea have been studied using a novel non-invasive technique. This involved measurement of spatial samples of the time dependent potential in the external medium (sea water) and an inverse transformation to give the current distribution at the cell surface. The initiation region and subsequent propagation (if any) of each action potential was then analysed from the computed transmembrane currents. The results showed that the occurrences of the spontaneous action potentials followed a rhythm which had a period of approximately 24–30 h. These action potentials initiated more frequently at the ends of the ISS's than in the middle region. Our results showed no firm correlation between the regions of action potential initiation and the site of the regenerating apex. Generally both propagating and non-propagating action potentials were observed in the same ISS, the ratio of which seems to depend on the length of the cell. The analysed initiation sites and the propagating behaviour of the spontaneous action potential generated by the ISS's during the regeneration process do not provide any clear support to the symmetry breaking role of the propagating action potentials as proposed by some workers.

Key words: Acetabularia, regeneration, action potential


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