Akademik

The small change in electrical potential in a stimulated nerve that follows the main, or spike, potential; it consists of an initial negative deflection followed by a positive deflection in the oscillograph record.

- diastolic a. in the heart, a transmembrane potential change following repolarization, which may reach threshold magnitude and cause a rhythm disturbance; often recorded in poisoning, as by digitalis overdosage.

- positive a. a spontaneous or inducible increase in transmembrane potential of a cardiac or nerve cell following the completion of repolarization. In the heart, this usually corresponds temporal to the electrocardiographic U wave.

af·ter·po·ten·tial -pə-.ten-chəl n the sequence of electrical events that follows the action potential of nerve activity and that usu. takes the form of a negative followed by a positive potential with both being of much smaller amplitude than the action potential compare prepotential