Biophysical Journal 68: 795-799 (1995)
© 1995 the Biophysical Society

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Membrane potential and input resistance are ambiguous measures of sealing of transected cable-like structures.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-0641, USA.

ABSTRACT

For many years, membrane potential (Vm) and input resistance have been used to characterize the electrophysiological nature of a seal (barrier) that forms at the cut end of a transected axon or other extended cytoplasmic structure. Data from a mathematical and an analog model of a transected axon and other theoretical considerations show that steady-state values of Vm and input resistance measured from any cable-like structure provide a very equivocal assessment of the electrical barrier (seal) at the cut end. Extracellular assessments of injury currents almost certainly provide a better electrophysiological measure of the status of plasma membrane sealing because measurements of these currents do not depend on the cable properties of extended cytoplasmic processes after transection.

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