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Nature of the Defect of Neuromuscular Transmission in Myasthenic Patients : ‘Post-tetanic Exhaustion’

Abstract

IT is generally agreed that the muscular weakness and exaggerated proneness to fatigue characteristic of myasthenia gravis are related to a failure of neuromuscular transmission. The mechanism responsible for the block still remains obscure; but it is usually regarded as analogous to the process of curarization. The experiments reported here show that, although this analogy may hold for some features of transmission at the myasthenic neuromuscular junction, the main weakness observed after an effort is of a nature not shown in the curarized muscle.

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DESMEDT, J. Nature of the Defect of Neuromuscular Transmission in Myasthenic Patients : ‘Post-tetanic Exhaustion’. Nature 179, 156–157 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/179156a0

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