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Science 30 March 1973:
Vol. 179. no. 4080, pp. 1336 - 1338
DOI: 10.1126/science.179.4080.1336
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Articles

Electrogenic Sodium Pump and High Specific Resistance in Nerve Cell Bodies of the Squid

David O. Carpenter 1

1 Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, and Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

An electrogenic sodium pump contributes to the membrane potential in squid nerve cell bodies, imparting a temperature dependence to the resting potential that is abolished by strophanthidin. The existence of a potential produced by the pump in the soma but not the axon is correlated with a higher membrane resistance in the soma. Thus, membranes from different parts of a neuron may have functionally significant differences in resistance.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)