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The effects of L-glutamate on cultured insect neurones
B G Horseman1, C Seymour, I Bermudez
1School of Biological Sciences and Environmental Health, Thames Polytechnic, London, U.K.
Abstract:
The effects of L-glutamate on insect cultured neurones were studied under current and voltage-clamp conditions using conventional and whole-cell patch-clamp techniques. Brief pressure or iontophoretic application of L-glutamate produced either a depolarisation or hyperpolarisation. The current underlying the depolarisation was inwardly directed and reversed at around 0 mV while the hyperpolarisation was caused by an outward current that reversed between -60 and -80 mV. Single channel currents underlying the depolarisation were readily recorded from cell attached patches and showed multiple conductance states. Channel activity corresponding to the hyperpolarising response has not yet been observed.