Action potential the muscle to contract. Muscle action potentials are provoked by the arrival of a pre-synaptic neuronal action potential at the neuromuscular junction, which is a common target for neurotoxins. Plant and fungal cells are also electrically excitable. The fundamental difference from animal action potentials is that the depolarization in plant cells is not accomplished by an uptake of positive sodium ions, but by release of negative "chloride" ions. Together with the following release of positive potassium ions, which is common to plant and animal action potentials, the action potential in plants infers, therefore, an osmotic loss of salt (KCl), whereas
Visual phototransduction Visual phototransduction Visual phototransduction is the sensory transduction of the visual system. It is a process by which light is converted into electrical signals in the rod cells, cone cells and photosensitive ganglion cells of the retina of the eye. This cycle was elucidated by George Wald (1906–1997) for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1967. It is so called "Wald's Visual Cycle" after him. The visual cycle is the biological conversion of a photon into an electrical signal in the retina. This process occurs via G-protein coupled receptors called opsins which contain the chromophore 11-cis retinal. 11-cis retinal