neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

, a tetanic stimulation consists of a high-frequency sequence of individual stimulations of a

neuron A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...

. It is associated with

potentiation In clinical terms, a potentiator is a reagent that enhances sensitization of an antigen. Potentiators are used in the clinical laboratory for performing blood banking procedures that require enhancement of Agglutination (biology), agglutination to ...

. High-frequency stimulation causes an increase in release called post-tetanic potentiation (Kandel 2003). This presynaptic event is caused by calcium influx. Calcium-protein interactions then produce a change in

vesicle Vesicle may refer to: ; In cellular biology or chemistry * Vesicle (biology and chemistry), a supramolecular assembly of lipid molecules, like a cell membrane * Synaptic vesicle ; In human embryology * Vesicle (embryology), bulge-like features o ...

exocytosis Exocytosis () is a form of active transport and bulk transport in which a cell transports molecules (e.g., neurotransmitters and proteins) out of the cell ('' exo-'' + ''cytosis''). As an active transport mechanism, exocytosis requires the use o ...

. The result of these changes is to make the postsynaptic cell more likely to fire an

action potential An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, ...

. Tetanic stimulation is used in medicine to detect a non-depolarizing block or a depolarizing block on the neuromuscular junction. Lower elicitations of tetanic stimulation in aged muscles were shown to be caused by lower levels of anaerobic energy provision in

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...

References

Neurophysiologists {{Cell-biology-stub de:Tetanisierung

See also

References