The Katz Blog: the dawn and development of our understanding of neurotransmission.

Sir Bernard Katz was a german biophysicist who first described the concept of "quantal content" of neurotransmitter release in 1952. Through studying the end plate potential (EPP) in the neuromuscular junction using intracellular microelectrode recordings Katz and his colleagues described mini-EPPs and 'failures' and later identified the relationship between mini-EPPS and full EPPs. Through comparing amplitudes of post-synaptic response, Katz and colleagues concluded that the EPP consisted of several "quanta" of neurotransmitter.

These discoveries greatly broadened the understanding of neurtotransmission and gave rise to further studies by Katz and colleagues into the quantal release of neurotransmitter, an area which is of great interest in research to this day.

Time Line:

1911: Sir Bernard Katz was born in Leipzig, Germany.

1929-1934: Sir Bernard Katz studied Medicine at the University of Leipzig, Germany.

1933: Sir Bernard Katz was awarded the Siegfried Garten Prize for undergraduate Physiological research.

1935 - 1939: Sir Bernard Katz completed his PhD at the University College London and recieved a Beit Memorial Research Fellowship in 1938.

1970: Katz, Axelrod and von Euler were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.

2003: Sir Bernard Katz passed away in April 2003.

Katz, B and Castillo, J (1954) "Quantal Components of the End Plate Potential" J Physiol: http://jp.physoc.org/content/124/3/560.full.pdf