Abstract
When a voltage pulse is applied to a pair of electrodes placed on the surface of excitable tissues, the resulting current is not restricted to the interelectrodal region. Some of it can be detected at considerable distances surrounding the electrodes during and following the application of the pulse. This behavior of current applied to living tissue was first described in the middle of the 19th century by Du Bois-Reymond (1879), who labelled the phenomenon electrotonus. Some years later it was shown that electrotonus was not an exclusive property of living tissue. Herman (1858) used a wire immersed in a conducting solution enclosed by a glass tube, which was fitted with small side arms that permitted the location of polarizing and recording electrodes. Herman showed that something similar to electrotonus occurred in his physical model, and arrived at the correct interpretation of his results, i.e., that the polarization resistance between wire and fluid was the cause of the current spread.
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© 1983 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague
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Méndez, C. (1983). The Role of Electrotonus in Cardiac Electrophysiology. In: Rosenbaum, M.B., Elizari, M.V. (eds) Frontiers of Cardiac Electrophysiology. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6781-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6781-6_2
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