Intracellularly recorded responses of nerve cells to oxygen deprivation

¹ Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Transmembrane potentials of cat motoneuron somata were recorded with concentric microelectrodes (one inside and one outside, 20–40 µ apart) during several minutes of anoxia by artificial respiration with nitrogen or by asphyxia. Both large and small changes in membrane potential—some spontaneously reversible—were seen following .5–5 min of anoxia or asphyxia. Most large and many smaller changes were correlated with transient blood pressure changes. Sometimes membrane potential could be restored by mechanical adjustment of the micropipette. Especially when blood pressure was stabilized with an infusion of hexamethonium chloride, some motoneurons could withstand 4–5 min of anoxia or asphyxia with membrane potential changes of no more than 2–5 mv, close to the limit of significance with this technique. Some small potential changes may be the direct effect of hypoxia on motoneuron membrane or of a change in interneuron background activity, but after eliminating the effects of electrode movement the motoneuron is remarkably insensitive to anoxia.

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