Structural and functional changes of frog neuromuscular junctions in high calcium solutions

When frog muscles are exposed for several hours to a solution of isotonic calcium chloride, the secretory response of the motor nerve terminals to imposed depolarization ultimately fails and the rate of spontaneous release of acetylcholine also declines towards zero. The failure of depolarization-evoked transmitter release is irreversible while spontaneous release reappears, though in highly abnormal fashion, when the muscle is returned to a normal ionic medium. Examination of motor end-plates, during various stages of calcium treatment, shows that there is gradual intra-axonal agglutination of synaptic vesicles which is only very incompletely reversible. This effect is presumably the consequence of gradual entry and intracellular accumulation of calcium ions. Analogous treatment with isotonic magnesium, while resulting in immediate loss of evoked transmitter release, does not lead to progressive agglutination of synaptic vesicles, nor to irreversible impairment of the secretory response of the nerve terminal. The possible relations between structural and functional changes during calcium and magnesium treatment are discussed.