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Related Concept Videos

Generation of Action Potential in Skeletal Muscles01:24

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Every cell in the body maintains a membrane potential due to an uneven distribution of positive and negative charges across its plasma membrane. The membrane potential is measured in millivolts and quantifies the difference in charge across the membrane.
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The relative difference in electrical charge, or voltage, between the inside and the outside of a cell membrane, is called the membrane potential. It is generated by differences in permeability of the membrane to various ions and the concentrations of these ions across the membrane.
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Membrane Potentials, Synaptic Responses, Neuronal Circuitry, Neuromodulation and Muscle Histology Using the Crayfish: Student Laboratory Exercises
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Muscle membrane potential and insect chill coma.

Jonas L Andersen1, Heath A MacMillan2, Johannes Overgaard2

  • 1Department of Zoophysiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark jonas.andersen@bios.au.dk.

The Journal of Experimental Biology
|June 20, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cold-tolerant insects defend their muscle membrane potential (Vm) at lower temperatures. This defense mechanism, not initial Vm, explains chill coma resistance in Drosophila species.

Keywords:
Chill toleranceCold exposureComparativeCritical thermal minimumInter-species

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Area of Science:

  • Insect physiology
  • Cold tolerance mechanisms
  • Neurobiology

Background:

  • Insects enter chill coma, a reversible paralysis, at low temperatures due to neuromuscular impairment.
  • Chill coma is hypothesized to result from cold-induced depolarization of muscle resting membrane potential (Vm).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between muscle Vm and chill coma susceptibility across five Drosophila species with varying cold tolerance.
  • To determine if cold tolerance is linked to the ability to maintain Vm at low temperatures.

Main Methods:

  • Five Drosophila species with diverse cold tolerance were selected.
  • Muscle Vm was repeatedly measured during a controlled temperature ramp from 20°C to -3°C.

Main Results:

  • Cold-tolerant Drosophila species maintained their Vm down to lower temperatures compared to susceptible species.
  • The ability to defend Vm across a broad temperature range, not initial Vm at 20°C, correlated with cold tolerance.
  • A critical Vm threshold related to chill coma was supported in three species, but cold-tolerant species showed no significant Vm depolarization at chill coma temperatures.

Conclusions:

  • Cold tolerance in Drosophila is associated with the capacity to maintain muscle Vm at low temperatures.
  • Chill coma onset in cold-tolerant species may involve mechanisms independent of significant muscle membrane depolarization.