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Journal of Experimental Biology 52,593-601 (1970)
Published by Company of Biologists 1970

The Effects of Curare in the Cockroach : II. Blockage of Nerve Impulses by dTC

K. J. FRIEDMAN ¹ and A. D. CARLSON ²

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11790 U.S.A.; Department of Zoology, UCLA Los Angeles, California 90024.
² Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11790 U.S.A.

1. The study of insect curarization in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, has been continued. The application of curare solution (0.032 M dTC) to the nerve cord produced blockage of action-potential conduction in the giant fibres lying within the nerve cord.

2. The application of curare solution to the cerci prevented the recording of action potentials from the cercal nerves of the organism. Application of dTC to the cercal nerve-A6 region of the cockroach prevented giant fibres from responding to electrical stimulation of the cercal nerves. These results are interpreted as indicating that curare blocks the conduction of action potentials in the cercal nerve.

3. It is proposed that curare can induce blockage of conduction in sensory, motor and central nervous system fibres. It is further proposed that this blockage of conduction is the mechanism of insect curarization.

4. The results of previous reports concerned with insect curarization are re-interpreted in view of the proposal. Several of the conflicts in these reports are resolved by the proposal that blockage of conduction is the mechanism of insect curarization.