Melittin makes “ion channel” on the membrane of cells

Melittin is a Major peptide in the venom of the European honny bee, Ap is Mellif era. The patch-clamp technique was used to study the behavior of melittin on the membranes of myoballs and neurons which were dissociated from a l-d-old Xenopus embryo. Melittin was observed to make “resistance channels” that are selective to sodium. When melittin acted on the merrbranes of muscle cells, intracurrents appeared and then disappeared. At neuromuscular junctions (NMJ), melittin was added to the area adjacent to the neurons, increased the frequency of micro-end plate currents (MEPCs) by 40%, and increased the arrplitude of MEPCs by 15%.