Glial cells in the insect nervous system are believed to play a role in regulating the extracellular potassium concentration, both during neuronal activity through spatial buffering (Gardner-Medwin, Coles & Tsacopoulos, 1981), and also by forming a blood-brain barrier (Schofield & Treherne, 1984). The membrane potential of glial cells has been thought to be exclusively dependent on potassium (Kettenmann, Sonnhof & Schachner, 1983), but recent studies on cultured glia have revealed conductance mechanisms for chloride (Coles & Orkand, 1984), sodium (Munson, Westermark & Glaser, 1979; Reiser, Loffler & Hamprecht, 1983) and calcium (MacVicar, 1984) ; and calcium and potassium channels have also been reported from in vivo retinal glial cells (Newman, 1985). This paper presents some patch-clamp recordings from in situ glial cells in the cockroach central nervous system.

The ventral abdominal nerve cord from adult,...

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