This review concerns the actions of tetraethylammonium (TEA) ions on
excitable cells. TEA + is a quaternary ammonium ion, belonging to a
group of substances which began to interest physiologists from the time,
in 1869, when Crum-Brown and Fraser showed that tetramethylammonium
(TMA) salts possessed a curare4ike action, destroying 'the conductivity
of the motor nerves by an action on their peripheral terminations.'