TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Neuromuscular Blockade & Reversal Agents A1 - Urman, Richard D. A1 - LaMontagne, Patricia T. PY - 2024 T2 - Morgan & Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthesiology Handbook AB - The association between a motor neuron and a muscle cell occurs at the neuromuscular junction (Figure 8–1). The cell membranes of the neuron and muscle fiber are separated by a narrow (20-nm) gap, the synaptic cleft. As a nerve’s action potential depolarizes its terminal, an influx of calcium ions through voltage-gated calcium channels into the nerve cytoplasm allows storage vesicles to fuse with the terminal plasma membrane and release their contents (acetylcholine [ACh]). The ACh molecules diffuse across the synaptic cleft to bind with nicotinic cholinergic receptors on a specialized portion of the muscle membrane, the motor end-plate. SN - PB - McGraw Hill CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/11/04 UR - accessanesthesiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1205044280 ER -