Bernard Katz

Bernard Katz (1911–2003) was a German-born British neurophysiologist whose experiments established the quantal basis of chemical synaptic transmission and clarified how nerves release acetylcholine.

Quantal theory of synaptic transmission: A model in which neurotransmitters are released in discrete packets, each producing a characteristic postsynaptic response. Katz’s experiments showed that spontaneous and nerve-evoked responses reflect units of acetylcholine release.
University of Leipzig: A public research university in Leipzig, Germany, founded in 1409. Katz studied medicine there before leaving Germany in 1935.
Stephen Kuffler: A neurophysiologist whose research helped establish modern cellular neuroscience. Kuffler’s work on sensory neurons and synapses belonged to the same experimental tradition as Katz’s.
Chemical synapse: A junction where one cell communicates with another by releasing chemical messengers across a narrow gap. Katz’s findings established a quantitative framework for how chemical synapses transmit signals.
Miniature end-plate potential: A small, spontaneous depolarization of the muscle end plate caused by release of a single synaptic vesicle’s contents. These spontaneous signals supplied Katz’s key evidence for discrete transmitter packets.
Nazi Germany: The German state under Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship from 1933 to 1945. Katz, who was Jewish, emigrated from Germany after the Nazi regime came to power.
Henry Dale: A British pharmacologist who identified acetylcholine’s actions and shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dale’s identification of acetylcholine set the chemical-transmission problem Katz later clarified.
Acetylcholine: A neurotransmitter used at neuromuscular junctions and in several central and peripheral nervous system pathways. Katz’s best-known release experiments measured acetylcholine transmission to muscle.
Synaptic vesicle: A membrane-bound compartment in a presynaptic terminal that stores and releases neurotransmitters. Vesicles provide the physical packets proposed by quantal theory.
University College London: A public research university in London founded in 1826. Katz joined its physiology department and conducted much of his influential research there.

Linked from 8 pages