Electrical Recording from the Contractile Ciliate Zoothamnium Geniculatum Ayrton
Keyword(s):
The Body
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1. The spherical body (200 μm in diameter) of this ciliate protozoan was easily immobilized on a suction pipette and penetrated with glass micro electrodes. 2. No recordings could be made from the contractile stalk, but in the body a negative potential of 30.3 ± 125 mV was observed. 3. Approximately 9 ms after the onset of a mechanical stimulus, a rapid depolarization was observed. This was apparently simultaneous throughout the body surface. The amplitude was 38.9 ± 13.7 mV. Recordings with aphotomultiplier showed that contraction of the stalk began 10 ms later. 4. A slower depolarization of complex form was observed during systole of the contractile vacuole.