THE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION OF FROG NERVE DURING STIMULATION

1. The resting rate of oxygen consumption of the excised sciatic nerve of the frog is 1.23 c.mm. of oxygen per gm. of nerve per minute. 2. During stimulation with an induction coil with 100 make and 100 break shocks per second there is an excess oxygen consumption amounting on the average to 0.32 c.mm. of oxygen per gm. of nerve per minute of stimulation, or a 26 per cent increase over the resting rate. 3. The magnitude of the excess oxygen consumption in stimulation, in agreement with the all-or-none law, is not markedly influenced by considerable variations in the intensity of stimulation. 4. Increasing the frequency of stimulation from 100 to 200 shocks per second increases the extra oxygen used only 1.12–1.18 times. The same change in frequency of stimulation increases the negative variation 1.15 times and the heat production about 1.25 times (Hill). 5. This parallelism between the excess oxygen and the negative variation argues definitely for some causal connection between the excess oxygen and the nerve impulse itself. 6. Calculation shows that the oxygen tension inside these nerves was not zero.