action potential (redirected from Action potentials)

action potential

n.

The change in membrane potential occurring in nerve, muscle, or other excitable tissue when excitation occurs.

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action potential,

n 1. an electric impulse consisting of a self-propagating series of polarizations and depolarizations, transmitted across the cell membranes of a nerve fiber during the transmission of a nerve impulse and across the cell membranes of a muscle cell during contraction.
n 2. the electrical potential developed in a muscle or nerve during activity.

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action potential

the nerve impulse, the sign of activity and the basis of activity in individual neurons in the nervous system. The measure of the activity of an individual nerve cell is indicated by the frequency of its discharge.

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compound action potential

the sum of the activity in a number of nerve fibers. It applies to the degree of activity in a nerve trunk in which a variable proportion of nerve fibers are discharging.

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action potential Cardiology The constellation of changes in electric potential generated by myocardial cell membranes after stimulation Physiology The sequential, electrochemical polarization and depolarization that traverses the membrane of a neuron in response to mechanical stimulation–eg, touch, pain, cold, etc. See Depolarization.