The binomial nature of transmitter release at the crayfish neuromuscular junction

1. Transmitter release at excitatory junctions on the opener muscle of the crayfish dactyl was studied by recording junctional potentials with extracellular micro-electrodes.2. At low temperatures, evoked release was dispersed sufficiently in time for potentials produced by individual quanta to be counted, and the mean (m) and variance (sigma(2)) of the quantum content distribution for a series of trials measured directly. These values were used to calculate the average probability of quantal release (p), assuming a binomial distribution.3. For all values of m and p, the observed release pattern (number of 0, 1, 2, 3,... quantal releases during a series of trials) was approximated closely by the corresponding binomial distribution. However, Poisson predictions differed significantly from the observed quantal distribution for values of p > 0.2.