On the kinetics of acetylcholine at the synapse.

Electrophysiologic, morphologic, and biochemical definitions of the synapse will be correlated spatially and temporally. Postsynaptic fatigue and facilitation follow oscillations of the free pool of acetylcholine, predicted by the kinetic theory and observed at the electric organ of Torpedo marmorata. The underlying thermodynamic instability exhibits properties of the Na+--K+-dependent hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate and represents a necessary condition for synaptic memory.