Pflüger-Zuckungsgesetz
The Pflüger twitching law , which describes the galvanic excitability of muscles , is named after its discoverer, the physiologist Eduard Pflüger (1829–1910). The excitability of membranes is changed by applied direct current.
In 1859, Pflüger described that bipolar stimulation of a motor nerve with galvanic current can trigger muscle twitching both in a nerve-muscle preparation and through the human skin. If the cathode is placed close to the muscle, a muscle twitch occurs when the circuit is closed. However, if the anode is closer to the muscle, this twitch only occurs with weak to moderate currents. With strong currents, the anode blocks the excitation emanating from the cathode: there is no muscle twitch.
Closing the circuit lowers the excitability at the anode and promotes it at the cathode. When the circuit is opened, the opposite effect occurs.
Publications
- Experimental contribution to the theory of the inhibitory nerves . Archives of Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine: 13–29, 1859
- Studies on the Physiology of Electrotonus . Berlin: Hirschwald, 1859
- On the cause of the tetanus of the opening . Archives for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine: 133–148, 1859
- About a new reagent to represent the axis cylinder . Archives of Anatomy, Physiology, and Scientific Medicin: 132, 1859