Blocking of Potassium Currents by Pronase in Perfused Giant Axons

Nature ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 215 (5103) ◽  
pp. 850-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDUARDO ROJAS ◽  
ILLANI ATWATER
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Currents ◽  
Giant Axons

scholarly journals Ionic Conductance Changes in Voltage Clamped Crayfish Axons at Low pH

1974 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 666-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Shrager
Keyword(s):  
Surface Charge ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Potassium Currents ◽  
Ionic Currents ◽  
Low Ph ◽  
Giant Axons ◽  
Voltage Curve ◽  
Conductance Changes ◽  
Membrane Components ◽  
Wire System

Giant axons from the crayfish have been voltage clamped with an axial wire system. General characterististics of observed ionic currents under normal conditions are similar to those measured in other giant axons and in nodes of Ranvier. As the pH of the external bath is lowered below 7, a marked, reversible slowing of potassium currents is seen with little effect on sodium currents. The steady-state potassium conductance-voltage curve is shifted along the voltage axis in a manner consistent with the development of a hyperpolarizing surface charge. Results suggest that this potential shift accounts for part, though not all, of the observed increase in τn. From the behavior of the kinetics of the delayed current with external pH these alterations in potassium conductance are attributed to the titration of a histidine imidazole residue of a membrane protein. Chemical modification of histidine by carbethoxylation at pH 6 slows and strongly depresses potassium currents. The results suggest that in addition to the introduction of electrostatic forces, possibly resulting from a hyperpolarizing surface charge, protonation of a histidine group at low pH also alters the nonelectrostatic chemical interactions determining the ease with which potassium gates open and close. The evidence indicates that the modified histidine residue is closely associated with the membrane components involved in the control of potassium conductance.

Calcium and potassium currents in the Fucus egg

Planta ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 189 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Taylor ◽  
Colin Brownlee
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Currents

scholarly journals The electrophysiological effects of cannabidiol on action potentials and transmembrane potassium currents in rabbit and dog cardiac ventricular preparations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Topal ◽  
Muhammad Naveed ◽  
Péter Orvos ◽  
Bence Pászti ◽  
János Prorok ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Oral Intake ◽  
Potassium Currents ◽  
Delayed Rectifier ◽  
Cardiac Repolarization ◽  
Cardiovascular Side Effects ◽  
Channel Inhibition ◽  
Repolarization Reserve ◽  
Electrophysiological Effects

AbstractCannabis use is associated with known cardiovascular side effects such as cardiac arrhythmias or even sudden cardiac death. The mechanisms behind these adverse effects are unknown. The aim of the present work was to study the cellular cardiac electrophysiological effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on action potentials and several transmembrane potassium currents, such as the rapid (IKr) and slow (IKs) delayed rectifier, the transient outward (Ito) and inward rectifier (IK1) potassium currents in rabbit and dog cardiac preparations. CBD increased action potential duration (APD) significantly in both rabbit (from 211.7 ± 11.2. to 224.6 ± 11.4 ms, n = 8) and dog (from 215.2 ± 9.0 to 231.7 ± 4.7 ms, n = 6) ventricular papillary muscle at 5 µM concentration. CBD decreased IKr, IKs and Ito (only in dog) significantly with corresponding estimated EC50 values of 4.9, 3.1 and 5 µM, respectively, without changing IK1. Although the EC50 value of CBD was found to be higher than literary Cmax values after CBD smoking and oral intake, our results raise the possibility that potassium channel inhibition by lengthening cardiac repolarization might have a role in the possible proarrhythmic side effects of cannabinoids in situations where CBD metabolism and/or the repolarization reserve is impaired.

Opioid-Activated Postsynaptic, Inward Rectifying Potassium Currents in Whole Cell Recordings in Substantia Gelatinosa Neurons

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 2954-2962 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Schneider ◽  
W. A. Eckert ◽  
A. R. Light
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
G Protein ◽  
Potassium Currents ◽  
Substantia Gelatinosa ◽  
Opioid Agonist ◽  
Membrane Hyperpolarization ◽  
Whole Cell ◽  
Protein Activation ◽  
G Protein Activation ◽  
Whole Cell Recordings

Schneider, S. P., W. A. Eckert III, and A. R. Light. Opioid-activated postsynaptic, inward rectifying potassium currents in whole cell recordings in substantia gelatinosa neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2954–2962, 1998. Using tight-seal, whole cell recordings from isolated transverse slices of hamster and rat spinal cord, we investigated the effects of the μ-opioid agonist (d-Ala2, N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol)-enkephalin (DAMGO) on the membrane potential and conductance of substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons. We observed that bath application of 1–5 μM DAMGO caused a robust and repeatable hyperpolarization in membrane potential ( V m) and decrease in neuronal input resistance ( R N) in 60% (27/45) of hamster neurons and 39% (9/23) of rat neurons, but significantly only when ATP (2 mM) and guanosine 5′-triphosphate (GTP; 100 μM) were included in the patch pipette internal solution. An ED50 of 50 nM was observed for the hyperpolarization in rat SG neurons. Because G-protein mediation of opioid effects has been shown in other systems, we tested if the nucleotide requirement for opioid hyperpolarization in SG neurons was due to G-protein activation. GTP was replaced with the nonhydrolyzable GTP analogue guanosine-5′- O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP-γ-S; 100 μM), which enabled DAMGO to activate a nonreversible membrane hyperpolarization. Further, intracellular application of guanosine-5′- O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP-β-S; 500 μM), which blocks G-protein activation, abolished the effects of DAMGO. We conclude that spinal SG neurons are particularly susceptible to dialysis of GTP by whole cell recording techniques. Moreover, the depletion of GTP leads to the inactivation of G-proteins that mediate μ-opioid activation of an inward-rectifying, potassium conductance in these neurons. These results explain the discrepancy between the opioid-activated hyperpolarization in SG neurons observed in previous sharp electrode experiments and the more recent failures to observe these effects with whole cell patch techniques.

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