Summary
At different operating points of their steady state characteristics, about 12% of single-fibre afferents from isolated ampullae of Lorenzini in the dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) answering graded temperature steps in the sense of cold receptors at first, reversed the direction of their differential temperature sensitivity. During this process no significant differences in their impulse patterns as well as in the parameters of the single spike potential itself were observed. From a second group of afferents, only an inversed dynamic response (overshoot of neural activity after a warm stimulus and silent period after a cold stimulus) could be recorded. The reversed responses to temperature cannot be explained by a possible shift in electrical or mechanical stimulus parameters.
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This investigation was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
The experiments were performed at the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland. We wish to thank Prof. O. Kinne and Dr. W. Greve for their hospitality and support and Mrs. M. Diebel for her technical assistance.
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Nier, K., Hensel, H. Special dynamic characteristics of thermosensitive afferents from the ampullae of Lorenzini. J. Comp. Physiol. 91, 241–246 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00698055
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00698055