A lab technician has inadvertently substituted lithium for sodium in a solution of saline for use by students in neurophysiology labs. If a frog nerve was bathed in this solution, what would happen upon stimulation of the nerve?
What will be an ideal response?
Assuming the specificity of the voltage-regulated sodium and potassium channels is absolute, the axons will be unable to generate action potentials. The sodium channels will open and close, but there will be no ionic current through them. The students will still see hyperpolarization, as the potassium efflux should be unaffected by lithium.
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