It is generally thought that muscle excitability is almost exclusively controlled by currents responsible for generation of action potentials. We propose that smaller ion channel currents that contribute to setting the resting potential and to subthreshold fluctuations in membrane potential can also modulate excitability in important ways. These channels open at voltages more negative than the action potential threshold and are thus termed subthreshold currents. As subthreshold currents are orders of magnitude smaller than the currents responsible for the action potential, they are hard to identify and easily overlooked. Discovery of their importance in regulation of excitability opens new avenues for improved therapy for muscle channelopathies and diseases of the neuromuscular junction. ANN NEUROL 2020;87:175–183

中文翻译：

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亚阈值电流在肌强直中的核心作用

一般认为肌肉兴奋性几乎完全由负责产生动作电位的电流控制。我们建议有助于设置静息电位和膜电位亚阈值波动的较小离子通道电流也可以以重要的方式调节兴奋性。这些通道在比动作电位阈值更负的电压下打开，因此被称为亚阈值电流。由于亚阈值电流比产生动作电位的电流小几个数量级，因此难以识别且容易被忽视。发现它们在调节兴奋性方面的重要性为改善肌肉通道病和神经肌肉接头疾病的治疗开辟了新的途径。神经网络 2020；87:175–183