Estimates of probability of transmitter release at the mammalian neuromuscular junction

Abstract

1. Intracellular records of end-plate potentials (e.p.p.s) were obtained from curarized neuromuscular junctions in the rat diaphragm.2. Statistical estimates of the quantal release probability (p) were made at individual junctions from measurements of the means and variances of e.p.p. amplitudes at two different levels of Ca concentration. It was assumed that the release process was binomial and that the number of quanta available for release (n) was independent of external Ca.3. These estimates of p were compared with those obtained by measuring depression of e.p.p. amplitudes after single conditioning shocks and assuming that the depression was due to depletion of n. The statistical estimates were consistently smaller.4. This disparity, plus the additional observation that depression was not linearly related to the number of quanta released by one or more conditioning shocks, suggested that depression was not due entirely to depletion and that the depletion assumption led to an over-estimate of p.5. A third method of estimating p from measurements of the decline of e.p.p. amplitudes during rapid stimulation also appeared to result in an over-estimate.