A modification of the classical procedure of fluctuation analysis is used to measure the waveform, w(t), mean amplitude, (h), and mean rate of occurrence, (r), of miniature endplate potentials (MEPPs) at frog cutaneous pectoris neuromuscular junctions treated with black widow spider venom (BWSV). MEPP parameters are determined from the power spectrum of the fluctuating potential and the second ...

The protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine inhibited, and often abolished, activity-dependent destaining of frog motor nerve terminals that had been preloaded with the fluorescent dye FM1-43. Staurosporine did not, however, block synaptic transmission; staurosporine treated muscles twitched in response to nerve stimulation, and the amplitudes of evoked end plate potentials were reduced only sli...

With its incredible strength and toughness, spider dragline silk is widely lauded for its impressive material properties. Dragline silk is composed of two structural proteins, MaSp1 and MaSp2, which are encoded by members of the spidroin gene family. While previous studies have characterized the genes that encode the constituent proteins of spider silks, nothing is known about the physical loca...