Receptor/system 'tone'

[Limpet_Chicken]

I came accross the term 'tone' used in a few research papers I was reading the other night while bored, I think one of them was regarding propofol, and it used the terms 'may mediate tone' , used with reference to cannabinergic signalling.

And a fairly similar use, in a paper about thymoquinone, the active opioidergic compound in Nigella Sativa seed (off topic slightly, but how does it act, anyone know? morphine is noncrosstolerant with analgesia produced by it, but the reverse does not hold, and it potentiates opioids quite strongly, enkephalinase inhibitor perhaps?)

What is the meaning of 'tone' used in this sense?

 

[Hammilton]

I would imagine it is shorthand for muscle tone.

you started your second example but got lost in your parantheses, and forgot to conclude it, so I can't help! Ham

 

[MurphyClox]

Could you point me to the ref, plz? I will have a look. Hard to provide an answer without having seen the whole context... - Murphy

 

[The Monkey Mantra]

Limpet Chicken,

Neurons have both tonic and phasic activity. Tonic is like the basal firing level - sorta like the motor's RPM in neutral. Phasic, however, is burst activity. The timing and magnitude of the burts provides all sorts of signals all over the brain, including gating pleasure and attention.