See Also: electrical coupling(medicine)
Herbal medicine (botanical medicine, herbology, phytomedicine)(health)
coupling(dictionary)
Coupling(medicine)
coupling(dictionary)
metabolic coupling(medicine)
coupling factor(medicine)
chemiosmotic coupling(medicine)
coupling interval(medicine)
constant coupling(medicine)

electrical coupling (medicine)


electrical coupling
<physiology> General term for an intimate cytoplasmic contact, mediated by gap junctions, between touching cells, such that electrical current injected into either cell changes the membrane potential of both.

In neurons, arrays of gap junctions form electrical synapses, that allow action potentials to pass directly between cells. However, electrical coupling is not confined to excitable cells: many embryonic and adult epithelia are coupled, possibly to allow metabolic cooperation.