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Reply to “First report of action potentials in a C. elegans neuron is premature”

Nature Neuroscience volume 12, page 366 (2009)Cite this article

Mellem et al. reply:

Recently, we reported the first evidence of action potentials in the nervous system of C. elegans1. Approximately 50% of the regenerative events that we observed in response to current stimulation were isolated action potentials. The remaining 50% were followed by progression into a plateau potential and were altered by genetic or pharmacological manipulations. We also observed spontaneous all-or-none changes between hyperpolarized and depolarized states. Lockery et al. argue that the term 'action potential' should be reserved for a specific type of regenerative event that is associated with rate or spike timing coding schemes. In their view, a regenerative event should be called an action potential only if it meets three criteria: its amplitude is invariant, its waveform is invariant and it is intrinsically self-terminating. However, the broader scientific community does not use this narrow definition. In fact, action potentials are used to describe a wide variety of regenerative events found in neurons, adrenal and pituitary cells2,3, and even in algae and plant cells4. Probably the best-known examples of long and variable duration action potentials are found in cardiac cells. Another example is the action potential described in retinal horizontal cells, which is variable in magnitude, waveform and response to depolarizing stimuli5. A final example is the variable duration action potential identified in C. elegans pharyngeal muscle6. Indeed, the diversity of action potentials is enormous and recent studies have begun to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that lead to this diversity6,7.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Jerry E Mellem, Penelope J Brockie, David M Madsen & Andres V Maricq

Authors
  1. Jerry E Mellem
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  2. Penelope J Brockie
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  3. David M Madsen
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  4. Andres V Maricq
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Mellem, J., Brockie, P., Madsen, D. et al. Reply to “First report of action potentials in a C. elegans neuron is premature”. Nat Neurosci 12, 366 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0409-366

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