Medical Definition of Electrical coupling
1.
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.
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Electrical Coupling
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