Action Current

action current

[′ak·shən ‚kə·rənt]

(physiology)

The electric current accompanying membrane depolarization and repolarization in an excitable cell.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Current, Action

 

in physiology, the electric current that develops in nerve and muscle cells and in some plant cells between their excited areas and adjacent resting areas. It is caused by changes in the ionic permeability of the cell membrane and in potential that occur in the excited areas, and is recorded by extracellular electrodes. Action current plays an important role in the distribution of action potential along a cell or fiber.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.