Vital staining of nerve structures with fluorescent dyes and optical determination of acetylcholine in the somatic muscle of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris.

Experiments with fluorescent dyes showed that high concentrations of K(+) ions in the medium depolarize the membrane and enhance exo-endocytosis in nerve structures, which is accompanied by an increase in acetylcholine concentration in the somatic muscle of earthworm. In the presence of BAPTA and without Ca(2+) exo-endocytosis is sharply decelerated, the level of acetylcholine in the muscle decreases, but remains relatively high.