Climbing fiber evoked potassium release in cat cerebellum

K+-selective micropipettes were used to measure the extracellular K+-signal associated with the activation of a single Purkinje cell, via a climbing fiber (CF). The maximum K+-signal had a magnitude of 0.3 - 0.5 mM and was correlated with a positive all-or-none extracellular potential. The ionic signal was of the same order of magnitude as that evoked from a population of Purkinje cells by local stimulation of a parallel fiber beam. The large size of the CF-evoked K+-response supports the concept of dendritic spikes under these conditions and may be relevant to CF function.