An Insect Mechanoreceptor: Part II: Receptor Potentials

This study of receptor potentials in hair-plate receptors was performed in order to get detailed knowledge of the properties of receptor potential responses, which might reflect mechanisms controlling receptor potential generation. The stimulus-response relation and the change in sensitivity which appears during and after a response were studied quantitatively. The characteristics of sensitivity changes found suggested their comparison with refractoriness in axon membranes. To study the formal relations between receptor-potential behavior and electrical properties of axon membranes the stimulus-response relations in the receptor were mathematically analyzed.