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J Connor

Publications and source records attributed to J Connor.

100 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Electrical characteristics of frog atrial trabeculae in the double sucrose gap.

The electrical behavior of small single frog atrial trabeculae in the double sucrose gap has been investigated. The currents injected during voltage clamp experiments did not behave as predicted from the assumption of spatial uniformity of the voltage across a Hodgkin-Huxley membrane. Much of the difference is due to the geometrical complexities of this tissue. Nonetheless, two transient inward currents have been identified, the faster of which is blocked by tetrodotoxin (TTX). The magnitude of the slower transient varies markedly between preparations but always increases in a given preparation with increase of external calcium. The fast transient current traces, at small to intermediate depolarizations, are often marred by the presence of notches and secondary peaks due most probably to the loss of space clamp conditions. In many preparations these could be removed by reducing the current magnitude through application of a partially-blocking dose of TTX. Conversely, in the preparations whose fast transient was fully blocked by TTX, notches and secondary peaks in the slow transient could by induced through increasing calcium concentration and thereby the slow current magnitude. Previously used techniques for the measurement of the reversal potential of the fast inward transient have been shown to be invalid. In so far as they can be measured, the reversal potentials of the fast and slow inward transient are in the same neighborhood, i.e. around 120 mV from rest. The true values may be quite a bit apart. The total charge flow in the capacitive transient was measured for different sized nodes and preparations. From these data and estimates of plasma membrane area per unit trabecular volume, specific membrane capacitances of around 3 muF/cm2 were calculated for small bundles. The apparent ion current densities on this basis are approximately 1/10 of those measured in axons. The capacitive current occurring in small bundles decayed as the sum of at least three exponential functions of time. On the basis of these data and the anomalously large stable node widths, we suggest a coaxial core model of the preparation with the inner elements in series with an additional large extracellular resistance.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

The pharmacology of Avena sativa.

The pharmacology of Avena sativa has been investigated in laboratory animals following a report that tincture of Avena sativa reduced the craying for cigarettes in man. The tincture, evaporated to dryness, craving for cigarettes in man. The tincture, evaporated to dryness, re-constituted in an equal volume of water and administered by stomach tube or intraperitoneal injection, antagonized the antinociceptive effect of morphine in two separate test (hot-plate and tail flick). Compared with animals made depedent on morphine alone, mice pretreated with repeated injections of morphine plus extract passed a smaller number of stools and tended to jump less after administration of nalorphine. The pressor response to intravenously administered nicotine in urethane-anaesthetized rats was also antagonized by prior administration of Avena sativa. However, the aqueous extract prepared from the tincture did not affect the seizure threshold to bemegride or nicotine or the sleeping time induced by barbitone sodium.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Potentiation by endotoxin of responses associated with increases in calcium conductance.

Bacterial endotoxin at concentrations of 0.03 mug/ml enhanced the following responses, each of which reflects calcium influx: (1) contraction of spiral intestine retractor muscle of dogfish; (2) amplitude of postsynaptic potential of squid giant synapse as a function of presynaptic depolarization; (3) membrane responses of deep abdominal extensor muscle of crayfish, stimulated intracellularly; and (4) slow transient (calcium) current in trabeculae of frog atrium under voltage clamp. Corticosteroid antagonized the endotoxin effect on the smooth muscle, not on the frog atrial current. One mechanism of action of endotoxin may be to increase transmembrane calcium currents.

Action Potentials↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of container material, storage time and temperature on cadmium and lead levels in heparinized human whole blood.

The effect of container material (polycarbonate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, borosilicate glass and Pyrex glass), storage time (0, 1, 3, 6, 13, 20, 28 and 60 days), and temperature (22 degrees C, 4 degrees C and -10 degrees C) on cadmium and lead levels in heparinized human whole blood was studied using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Whole blood samples stored in polycarbonate containers at -10 degrees C did not show significant change in the concentrations of cadmium and lead up to 60 days. Also, the cadmium and lead levels remained unchanged for two weeks when the samples were stored in polyethylene and polypropylene vessels at 4 degrees C.

Blood Specimen Collection↗