Definition of quantal in English:
quantal
adjective ˈkwɒnt(ə)lˈkwän(t)l
technical 1Composed of discrete units; varying in steps rather than continuously.
a quantal release of neurotransmitter
Example sentencesExamples
- Expression of tetanus toxin is known to reduce the frequency of spontaneous quantal release.
- Ideally, this requires the identification of peaks in the histogram at a spacing of one quantal unit.
- The fact that similar step sizes are found in independent experimental approaches using different methodologies implies that the quantal stepping mechanism is a central feature of the contractile process.
- The number of receptors opened following quantal release may vary directly with the total number of receptors at the synapse, but other, more complex, interactions may occur.
- Although these results do not definitively pinpoint the source of the steps, they confirm the earlier hypothesis that shortening is quantal.
- 1.1Physics Relating to a quantum or quanta, or to quantum theory.
Example sentencesExamples
- In this experiment UV + and UV - filters were chosen to yield equal quantal transmittance despite the difference in transmitted wavelengths.
- 1.2Physiology Relating to or denoting an all-or-none response or state.
Example sentencesExamples
- However the neighboring peaks can merge because of variability of quantal response.
- If the random number was smaller, a release event took place, the site was set to the empty state, and the size of the quantal response was determined as described below.
- Furthermore, it allows one to calculate the apparent quantal size for each response in a sequence of stimuli.
- The extrasynaptic receptors that are exposed to a much lower concentration of agonist and are not saturated may substantially enhance the quantal synaptic response.
- In this case, the quantal amplitude of postsynaptic response strongly depends on the number of accessible postsynaptic receptors in the vicinity of the release sites.
Derivatives
adverb
technical Thus, a single Gag particle associates ‘quantally’ with one lipid raft, containing homogeneous trimeric viral envelope proteins, to assemble functional virions.
Example sentencesExamples
- Analgesia was defined quantally as a doubling or greater of the baseline latency for each mouse.
Origin
Early 20th century: from quantum + -al.