Abstract
By taking advantage of Characeae, I have studied the mechanism of electrical perception of *eath message Specimens composed of two internodal cells were prepared. When one cell (victim cell) was killed, another cell (receptor cell) generated depolarizing responses. A possibility was suggested that the depolarization was induced by loss of the turgor pressure of the victim cell. To examine this possibility, I decreased the turgor pressure of the victim cell by adding sorbitol to the bathing medium of the victim cell. Upon decrease in the turgor pressure of the victim cell, transient depolarization was induced by the receptor cell. However, duration of the depolarization induced by the osmotic stimulation was much shorter than that induced by killing the victim cell (Shimmen (2001) Plant Cell Physiol 42: 366-373). In the present study, the mechanism of membrane depolarization induced by osmotic stimulation was analyzed.
