Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Volume 97

This review concerns the actions of tetraethylammonium (TEA) ions on excitable cells. TEA + is a quaternary ammonium ion, belonging to a group of substances which began to interest physiologists from the time, in 1869, when Crum-Brown and Fraser showed that tetramethylammonium (TMA) salts possessed a curare4ike action, destroying 'the conductivity of the motor nerves by an action on their peripheral terminations.' TEA + appears to have been first used in the 1870s (Jordan 1877) and in experiments carried out in Ranvier's laboratory, where Brunton and Cash (1884) investigated the effects of injecting TEA-iodide (and many other substances) into frogs and rabbits. Injected into frogs, TEA + caused spasmodic twitchings of the trunk and leg musculature. Pinching the foot sometimes resulted in twitching of the whole body, even when the foot itself was no longer withdrawn reflexly. The motor responses to nerve stimulation were finally profoundly paralysed. However, skeletal muscle responded to direct stimulation, and the response was described as being lengthened on repeating the stimulus. Marshall (1914) too described such effects on nerve and muscle, but TEA + was also shown at this time to reduce vascular tone and have, in consequence, a hypotensive effect. Burn and Dale (1915) showed that TEA\* was an effective blocker of autonomic ganglia. Tetraethylammonium ions and the potassium permeability of excitable cells....Pages 1-67 Renal magnesium transport....Pages 69-110 Gas exchange in fish swim bladder....Pages 111-158