Search results for "Voltage clamp"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Does cyclic GMP mediate the negative inotropic effect of acetylcholine in the heart?
1977
DURING vagal stimulation the pacemaker activity of the heart is diminished. The reduction in heart rate is due to a release of acetylcholine (ACh) from the parasympathetic nerve terminals that increases the permeability of the myocardial cell membrane for potassium ions (for review see ref. 1). This is accompanied by a shortening of the action potential duration in atrial muscle and a diminished calcium uptake2, which in turn results in a negative inotropic effect. Voltage clamp experiments in mammalian atrial muscle have shown that with higher concentrations of ACh not only is the potassium current augmented but also the slow inward current of calcium is reduced3. It is not clear how the c…
Different mechanisms of the inhibition of the transient outward current in rat ventricular myocytes.
1994
The mechanism of drug-induced inhibition of the transient outward current, Ito, has been investigated in rat ventricular myocytes using the whole cell patch clamp technique. Ito was activated by 300 ms depolarizing voltage clamp steps in 10 mV increments from −50 mV up to +40 mV. At +40 mV, Ito peaked after about 3 ms, and the time course of inactivation was appropriately described by two time constants, τfast = 17 ms and τslow = 203 ms. Verapamil, quinidine sulfate and nifedipine preferentially depressed Ito at the end of the 300 ms depolarizing voltage clamp step; the inactivation of Ito was accelerated by all drugs, whereas peak Ito was less affected. The time course of drug action at +4…
Depolarization-induced influx of sodium in response to phenylephrine in rat atrial heart muscle.
1991
1. The effects of alpha 1-adrenoceptor stimulation on transmembrane potential, currents and ion fluxes were investigated in multicellular preparations and/or single cells obtained from the left atrium of rat hearts. 2. In multicellular preparations, phenylephrine caused a concentration-dependent positive inotropic effect, an increase in action potential duration, and a decrease in resting potential; the effects were antagonized by phentolamine. 3. In the presence of phenylephrine (100 mumol/1), two levels of resting potential were observed when the preparations were, alternately, electrically stimulated or kept at rest (-74 +/- 1 mV during activity and -62 +/- 4 mV at rest; mean +/- S.E.M.;…
Nonlinear conductance and heterogeneity of voltage-gated ion channels allow defining electrical surface domains in cell membranes
2015
Abstract The membrane potential of a cell measured by typical electrophysiological methods is only an average magnitude and experimental techniques allowing a more detailed mapping of the cell surface have shown the existence of spatial domains with locally different electric potentials and currents. Electrical potentials in non-neural cells are regulated by the nonlinear conductance of membrane ion channels. Voltage-gated potassium channels participate in cell hyperpolarization/depolarization processes and control the electrical signals over the cell surface, constituting good candidates to study basic biological questions on a more simplified scale than the complex cell membrane. These ch…
Origin of impulse initiation in the slowly adapting stretch receptor of the crayfish
1974
Characteristic for the crayfish stretch receptor is a gradual decrease in axon diameter up to a stretch of axon about 350 μm away from the soma-axon border. In response to depolarizing currents applied at different positions along the axon this stretch of axon can be localized as the most excitable membrane region. When depolarizing current steps of 10–25 nA intensity are injected into the soma the first impulse is always triggered in the soma (due to sudden rise in the membrane potential) while the second impulse originates at the axon region of highest escitability. As the intensity of the stimulus is increased the site of impulse initiation along the axon shifts nearer to the receptor so…
Membrane potential bistability in nonexcitable cells as described by inward and outward voltage-gated ion channels.
2014
The membrane potential of nonexcitable cells, defined as the electrical potential difference between the cell cytoplasm and the extracellular environment when the current is zero, is controlled by the individual electrical conductance of different ion channels. In particular, inward- and outward-rectifying voltage-gated channels are crucial for cell hyperpolarization/depolarization processes, being amenable to direct physical study. High (in absolute value) negative membrane potentials are characteristic of terminally differentiated cells, while low membrane potentials are found in relatively depolarized, more plastic cells (e.g., stem, embryonic, and cancer cells). We study theoretically t…
Model predictions of the ionic mechanisms underlying the beating and bursting pacemaker characteristics of molluscan neurons
1976
The general properties of the excitable membrane on molluscan pacemaker neurons can be described on the basis of a fair amount of experimental evidence available in the literature. The neuronal membrane exhibits under voltage clamp an initial inward current carried by both Na+ and Ca2+ ions, the time- and voltage-dependent characteristics of which are similar to that of other excitable structures. The conductance mechanism for the two ion species and the transport kinetics appear to be closely similar. The time course and amplitude of the delayed outward current carried by K+ ions shows a marked dependence on the membrane potential. Characteristic for the molluscan neurons is the existence …
Activation by Acidic pH of CLC-7 Expressed in Oocytes from Xenopus laevis
2002
ClC chloride channels are important in diverse physiological functions such as transepithelial transport, cell volume regulation, excitability, and acidification of intracellular organelles. We have investigated the expression of CLC-7 in oocytes from Xenopus laevis with the two electrode voltage clamp technique and Western blot analysis. Using a specific antibody against CLC-7, we found an approximately 80 kDa protein in oocytes, previously injected with CLC-7-cRNA. In voltage clamp experiments on ClC-7-cRNA-injected oocytes, no current changes were detected at normal pH (7.4). However, acidification of the Ringer solution to pH values between 6 and 4 revealed strong currents which reverse…
Intracellular accumulation of l-Arg, kinetics of transport, and potassium leak conductance in oocytes from Xenopus laevis expressing hCAT-1, hCAT-2A,…
2004
AbstractCationic amino acid transporters play an important role in the intracellular supply of l-Arg and the generation of nitric oxide. Since the transport of l-Arg is voltage-dependent, we aimed at determining the intracellular l-Arg concentration and describing the transport of l-Arg in terms of Michaelis–Menten kinetics, taking into account membrane voltage. The human isoforms of the cationic amino acid transporters, hCAT-1, hCAT-2A, and hCAT-2B, were expressed in oocytes from Xenopus laevis and studied with the voltage clamp technique and in tracer experiments. We found that l-Arg was concentrated intracellularly by all hCAT isoforms and that influx and efflux, in the steady state of e…
The main determinant of furosemide inhibition on GABA(A) receptors is located close to the first transmembrane domain.
1998
Inhibitory GABA(A) receptors are regulated by numerous allosteric modulators, the most receptor-subtype specific of which is furosemide. It recognises receptors of the subunit composition alpha6beta2/3gamma2, restricted to cerebellar granule cells. To locate furosemide's site of action we constructed chimeras of the furosemide-sensitive alpha6 and the furosemide-insensitive alpha1 subunit, and expressed and studied them together with the beta3 and gamma2 subunits in Xenopus oocytes by the two-electrode voltage clamp technique. The inhibition of GABA-induced currents by furosemide mainly depended on a short domain proximal to the first transmembrane region of the alpha6 subunit.