Jumping transmission of action potential between separately placed internodal cells of chora corallina

We report here a new type of cell-to-cell communication. We noticed that a characean cell can transmit its action potentials to one or more cells which lie parallel to it separately in artificial pond water without any special connection between the cells. Two experimental facts proved this transmission not chemical but electrical. No transmission was observed first when an Ag-AgCl wire was placed between two cells, and second when the whole length of the first cell was stimulated so that non-propagated action potential was induced. The results show that the traveling electrical field strength might be the fundamental factor in the jumping transmission.