Conditioning prepulses and kinetics of potassium conductance in the frog node

1982 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. de Bruin
1982 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Nargeot ◽  
H A Lester ◽  
N J Birdsall ◽  
J Stockton ◽  
N H Wassermann ◽  
...  

These experiments employ the photoisomerizable compound, 3,3'-bis-[alpha-(trimethylammonium)methyl]azobenzene (Bis-Q), to study the response to muscarinic agents in frog myocardium. In homogenates from the heart, trans-Bis-Q blocks the binding of [3H]-N-methylscopolamine to muscarinic receptors. In voltage-clamped atrial trabeculae, trans-Bis-Q blocks the agonist-induced potassium conductance. The equilibrium dose-response curve for carbachol is shifted to the right, suggesting competitive blockade. Both the biochemical and electrophysiological data yield a dissociation constant of 4-5 microM for trans-Bis-Q; the cis configuration is severalfold less potent as a muscarinic blocker. Voltage-clamped preparations were exposed simultaneously to carbachol and Bis-Q and were subjected to appropriately filtered flashes (less than 1 ms duration) from a xenon flashlamp. Trans leads to cis and cis leads to trans photoisomerizations cause small (less than 20%) increases and decreases, respectively, in the agonist-induced current. The relaxation follows an S-shaped time course, including an initial delay or period of zero slope. The entire waveform is described by [1 - exp(-kt)]n. At 23 degrees C, k is approximately 3 s-1 and n is 2. Neither k nor n is affected when: (a) [Bis-Q] is varied between 5 and 100 microM; (b) [carbachol] is varied between 1 and 50 microM; (c) carbachol is replaced by other agonists (muscarine, acetylcholine, or acetyl-beta-methylcholine); or (d) the voltage is varied between the normal resting potential and a depolarization of 80 mV. However, in the range of 13-30 degrees C, k increases with temperature; the Q10 is between 2 and 2.5. In the same range, n does not change significantly. Like other investigators, we conclude that the activation kinetics of the muscarinic K+ conductance are not determined by ligand-receptor binding, but rather by a subsequent sequence of two (or more) steps with a high activation energy.


1988 ◽  
Vol 232 (1269) ◽  
pp. 375-394 ◽  

A quantitative re-investigation of the time course of the initial rise of the potassium current in voltage-clamped squid giant axons is described. The n 4 law of the Hodgkin–Huxley equations was found to be well obeyed only for the smallest test pulses, and for larger ones a good fit of the inflected rise required use of the expression (1 – exp {– t / ז n 1 }) X –1 (1 – exp { – t / ז n 2 }), where both of the time constants and the power X varied with the size of the test pulse. Application of a negative prepulse produced a delay in the rise resulting mainly from an increase of X from a value of about 3 at –70 mV to 8 at –250 mV, while ז n 1 remained constant and ז n 2 was nearly doubled. The process responsible for generating this delay was switched on with a time constant of 8 ms at 4°C, which fell to about 1 ms at 15°C. Analysis of the inward tail currents at the end of a voltage-clamp pulse showed that there was a substantial external accumulation of potassium owing to the restriction of its diffusion out of the Schwann cell space, which, when duly allowed for, roughly doubled the calculated value of the potassium conductance. Computations suggested that the principal effect of such a build-up of [K] o would be to reduce the fitted values of ז n 1 and ז n 2 to two-thirds or even half their true sizes, while the power X would generally be little changed; but it would not affect the necessity to introduce a second time constant, nor would it invalidate our findings on the effect of negative prepulses.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 963-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Turrigiano ◽  
E. Marder ◽  
L. F. Abbott

1. We use the dynamic clamp to add the slowly inactivating and slowly recovering K+ conductance Kv1.3 to cultured stomatogastric ganglion neurons. 2. Introduction of Kv1.3 produced long delays to firing during depolarization. Additionally, the slow recovery from inactivation produced an increase in neuronal excitability after a depolarizing input that outlasted the input by many seconds. Finally, when introduced into bursting neurons, Kv1.3 produced a long-lasting depolarization-induced switch between tonic and burst firing. 3. These data demonstrate that the slow kinetics of a K+ conductance can produce a form of cellular short-term memory that is independent of any changes in synaptic efficacy.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 999-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Gabbiani ◽  
J. Midtgaard ◽  
T. Knopfel

1. We have developed a compartmental model of a turtle cerebellar granule cell consisting of 13 compartmentds that represent the soma and 4 dendrites. We used this model to investigate the synaptic integration of mossy fiber inputs in granule cells. 2. The somatic compartment contained six active ionic conductances: a sodium conductance with fast activation and inactivation kinetics, gNa; a high-voltage-activated calcium conductance, gCa(HVA); a delayed potassium conductance, gK(DR); a transient potassium conductance, gK(A); a slowly relaxing mixed Na+/K+ conductance activating at hyperpolarized membrane potentials, gH, and a calcium- and voltage-dependent potassium conductance, gK(Ca). The kinetics of these conductances was derived from electrophysiological studies in a variety of preparations, including turtle and rat granule cells. 3. In the soma, dynamics of intracellular free Ca2+ was modeled by incorporation of a Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, radial diffusion, and binding sites for Ca2+. 4. The model of the turtle granule cell exhibited depolarization-induced action potential firing with properties closely resembling those seen with intracellular recordings in turtle granule cells in vitro. 5. In the most distal compartments of the dendrites, mossy fiber activity induced synaptic currents mediated by alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)- and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type of glutamate receptors. The strength of synaptic inputs chosen was such that the synaptic potential induced by synchronous activation of two mossy fiber synapses reached threshold for induction of a single action potential. 6. The slow time course of the NMDA synaptic current together with the slow relaxation kinetics of gH significantly affected the temporal summation of excitatory synaptic potentials. A priming action potential evoked by mossy fiber stimulation increased the maximal time interval between two synaptic potentials capable to reach again threshold for a subsequent action potential. This time interval then decreased in parallel with the decay of the NMDA synaptic current, reached a minimum after 200 ms, and slowly recovered with reactivation of gH. 7. Repetitive, steady activation of synaptic conductances by a single mossy fiber at different frequencies induced action potential firing with a sharp threshold at 12 Hz. Activity of a single or of several mossy fibers induced firing of the granule cell at a frequency close to that induced when the average synaptic current was directly injected into the cell. The mossy fiber activity-granule cell firing frequency curve was close to linear with a slope of about one-half for input frequencies < or = 400 Hz.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1045-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Saint

The effect of 4-aminopyridine and tetraethylammonium on the time course of neurotransmitter release was examined at the neuromuscular junction using a computer-aided method which directly measured the time of occurrence of individual quanta. It is apparent that the action of 4-aminopyridine, at concentrations of 0.1 to 1 mM, when examined in isolation from other experimental manipulations, is to cause a greatly enhanced probability of release at times subsequent to the time over which release normally occurs. In contrast to previous reports of an increased latency of release, however, the probability of release in the initial phase is essentially unchanged, i.e., there is no evidence of an increased latency of release caused by 4-aminopyridine. Similar results were obtained with tetraethylammonium, although the prolongation of release was much less, even at a concentration of 1 mM. The results are consistent with the view that the predominant action of 4-aminopyridine is to block the potassium conductance responsible for repolarization of the action potential and hence cause a prolonged Ca2+ current. The action of tetraethylammonium is consistent with the block of a different K+ conductance, with consequent enhancement of action potential effectiveness, but with little prolongation of release. The observation of multiple peaks, or oscillations in the release probability function at high (ca. 1 mM) concentrations of 4-aminopyridine, may be related, as is suggested, to oscillations of presynaptic membrane potential, or perhaps to changes in the electrochemical gradient for Ca2+ influx.Key words: transmitter release, 4-aminopyridine, tetraethylammonium, synapse, excitation-secretion coupling, nerve terminal.


1983 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
D R Halm ◽  
D C Dawson

The current generated by electrogenic sodium-potassium exchange at the basolateral membrane of the turtle colon can be measured directly in tissues that have been treated with serosal barium (to block the basolateral potassium conductance) and mucosal amphotericin B (to reduce the cation selectivity of the apical membrane). We studied the activation of this pump current by mucosal sodium and serosal potassium, rubidium, cesium, and ammonium. The kinetics of sodium activation were consistent with binding to three independent sites on the cytoplasmic side of the pump. The pump was not activated by cellular lithium ions. The kinetics of serosal cation activation were consistent with binding to two independent sites with the selectivity Rb &gt; K &gt; Cs &gt; NH4. The properties and kinetics of the basolateral Na/K pump in the turtle colon are at least qualitatively similar to those ofthe well-characterized Na/K-ATPase of the human red blood cell .


Author(s):  
J. F. DeNatale ◽  
D. G. Howitt

The electron irradiation of silicate glasses containing metal cations produces various types of phase separation and decomposition which includes oxygen bubble formation at intermediate temperatures figure I. The kinetics of bubble formation are too rapid to be accounted for by oxygen diffusion but the behavior is consistent with a cation diffusion mechanism if the amount of oxygen in the bubble is not significantly different from that in the same volume of silicate glass. The formation of oxygen bubbles is often accompanied by precipitation of crystalline phases and/or amorphous phase decomposition in the regions between the bubbles and the detection of differences in oxygen concentration between the bubble and matrix by electron energy loss spectroscopy cannot be discerned (figure 2) even when the bubble occupies the majority of the foil depth.The oxygen bubbles are stable, even in the thin foils, months after irradiation and if van der Waals behavior of the interior gas is assumed an oxygen pressure of about 4000 atmospheres must be sustained for a 100 bubble if the surface tension with the glass matrix is to balance against it at intermediate temperatures.


Author(s):  
R. J. Lauf

Fuel particles for the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) contain a layer of pyrolytic silicon carbide to act as a miniature pressure vessel and primary fission product barrier. Optimization of the SiC with respect to fuel performance involves four areas of study: (a) characterization of as-deposited SiC coatings; (b) thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions between SiC and fission products; (c) irradiation behavior of SiC in the absence of fission products; and (d) combined effects of irradiation and fission products. This paper reports the behavior of SiC deposited on inert microspheres and irradiated to fast neutron fluences typical of HTGR fuel at end-of-life.


Author(s):  
Shiro Fujishiro ◽  
Harold L. Gegel

Ordered-alpha titanium alloys having a DO19 type structure have good potential for high temperature (600°C) applications, due to the thermal stability of the ordered phase and the inherent resistance to recrystallization of these alloys. Five different Ti-Al-Ga alloys consisting of equal atomic percents of aluminum and gallium solute additions up to the stoichiometric composition, Ti3(Al, Ga), were used to study the growth kinetics of the ordered phase and the nature of its interface.The alloys were homogenized in the beta region in a vacuum of about 5×10-7 torr, furnace cooled; reheated in air to 50°C below the alpha transus for hot working. The alloys were subsequently acid cleaned, annealed in vacuo, and cold rolled to about. 050 inch prior to additional homogenization


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