BioConcepts

action potentialAktionspotential (ger.)

• The difference in electrical potential between the excited and unexcited parts of a nerve or muscle. (OED)
  category sensibility

  1906

  das ›Aktionspotential‹ der Nerven (und Muskeln) bleibt […] stets ›negativ‹

  Boruttau, H. (1906). Elektropathologische Untersuchungen, III. Die Elektropathologie des warmblüternerven, sowie die Veränderungen der elektrischen Eigenschaften der Nerven überhaupt beim Absterben und Degenerieren. Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere, 115, 287-315: 315; cf. 309; 311.

  1913

  Galeotti added the action potential to his observed potential

  Roaf, H.E. (1913). The liberation of ions and the oxygen tension of tissues during activity (preliminary communication). Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 86, 215-218: 217.

  1926

  when the nerve does not show the supernormal anodal effect where its action potential wave arrives at some optimally polarized point between anode and cathode, recovery is also incomplete after passing the cathode

  Bishop, G.H. & Erlanger, J. (1926). The effects of polarization upon the activity of vertebrate nerve. Amer. J. Physiol. 78, 630-657: 635.