scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE, POTASSIUM, AND SODIUM ON THE CONDUCTANCE CHANGE ACCOMPANYING THE ACTION POTENTIAL IN THE SQUID GIANT AXON

1957 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Amatniek ◽  
W. Freygang ◽  
H. Grundfest ◽  
G. Kiebel ◽  
A. Shanes
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Membrane Resistance ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Concentration Of Ions ◽  
Temperature Ranges ◽  
Conductance Changes ◽  
Lower Temperature ◽  
Possible Cause

Conductance changes associated with the response of the squid giant axon have been studied at two temperature ranges (26–27°C.; 9–10°C.) and with modified concentrations of sodium and potassium in the medium. The phase of "initial after-conductance," during which the membrane resistance increases above the resting value, is smaller at the lower temperature. At both temperature ranges it is diminished by doubling K+ in the medium and enhanced by removal of K+. Halving the Na+ of the medium also enhances this phase when K+ is absent, but not otherwise. The time course of the conductance changes alters in form with changes of the external medium. These changes indicate independent changes in the complex of ionic events associated with the response. The experiments therefore confirm the reality of the phase of increased membrane resistance. The magnitude of this change appears to be considerable and requires a transient decrease in the mobility and/or concentration of ions in the membrane. The possible cause of this decrease is discussed.

scholarly journals Ammonium Ion Currents in the Squid Giant Axon

1969 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Binstock ◽  
Harold Lecar
Keyword(s):  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Ammonium Chloride ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Ammonium Ion ◽  
Ion Currents ◽  
Potassium Permeability ◽  
Nerve Excitability ◽  
Conductance Changes

Voltage-clamp studies on intact and internally perfused squid giant axons demonstrate that ammonium can substitute partially for either sodium or potassium. Ammonium carries the early transient current with 0.3 times the permeability of sodium and it carries the delayed current with 0.3 times the potassium permeability. The conductance changes observed in voltage clamp show approximately the same time course in ammonium solutions as in the normal physiological solutions. These ammonium ion permeabilities account for the known effects of ammonium on nerve excitability. Experiments with the drugs tetrodotoxin (TTX) and tetraethyl ammonium chloride (TEA) demonstrate that these molecules block the early and late components of the current selectively, even when both components are carried by the same ion, ammonium.

scholarly journals Effect of Temperature on the Potential and Current Thresholds of Axon Membrane

1962 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Guttman ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Sucrose Solution ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Threshold Current ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Threshold Potential ◽  
Axon Membrane ◽  
Central Segment ◽  
The Mean

The effect of temperature on the potential and current thresholds of the squid giant axon membrane was measured with gross external electrodes. A central segment of the axon, 0.8 mm long and in sea water, was isolated by flowing low conductance, isoosmotic sucrose solution on each side; both ends were depolarized in isoosmotic KCl. Measured biphasic square wave currents at five cycles per second were applied between one end of the nerve and the membrane of the central segment. The membrane potential was recorded between the central sea water and the other depolarized end. The recorded potentials are developed only across the membrane impedance. Threshold current values ranged from 3.2 µa at 267deg;C to 1 µa at 7.5°C. Threshold potential values ranged from 50 mv at 26°C to 6 mv at 7.5°C. The mean Q10 of threshold current was 2.3 (SD = 0.2), while the Q10 for threshold potentials was 2.0 (SD = 0.1).

scholarly journals DEMONSTRATION OF TWO STABLE POTENTIAL STATES IN THE SQUID GIANT AXON UNDER TETRAETHYLAMMONIUM CHLORIDE

1957 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 859-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiji Tasaki ◽  
Susumu Hagiwara
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Membrane Resistance ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Unstable State ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Tetraethylammonium Chloride

1. Intracellular injection of tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) into a giant axon of the squid prolongs the duration of the action potential without changing the resting potential (Fig. 3). The prolongation is sometimes 100-fold or more. 2. The action potential of a giant axon treated with TEA has an initial peak followed by a plateau (Fig. 3). The membrane resistance during the plateau is practically normal (Fig. 4). Near the end of the action potential, there is an apparent increase in the membrane resistance (Fig. 5D and Fig. 6, right). 3. The phenomenon of abolition of action potentials was demonstrated in the squid giant axon treated with TEA (Fig. 7). Following an action potential abolished in its early phase, there is no refractoriness (Fig. 8). 4. By the method of voltage clamp, the voltage-current relation was investigated on normal squid axons as well as on axons treated with TEA (Figs. 9 and 10). 5. The presence of stable states of the membrane was demonstrated by clamping the membrane potential with two voltage steps (Fig. 11). Experimental evidence was presented showing that, in an "unstable" state, the membrane conductance is not uniquely determined by the membrane potential. 6. The effect of low sodium water was investigated in the axon treated with TEA (Fig. 12). 7. The similarity between the action potential of a squid axon under TEA and that of the vertebrate cardiac muscle was stressed. The experimental results were interpreted as supporting the view that there are two stable states in the membrane. Initiation and abolition of an action potential were explained as transitions between the two states.

Fractionation of the asymmetry current in the squid giant axon into inactivating and non-inactivating components

1982 ◽  
Vol 215 (1200) ◽  
pp. 375-389 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Gating System ◽  
Nerve Membrane ◽  
Positive Voltage ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Displacement Currents ◽  
Asymmetrical Displacement

The operation of the voltage-sensitive sodium gating system in the nerve membrane involves conformational changes that are accompanied by small asymmetrical displacement currents. The asymmetry current may be divided into a component that is inactivated by positive voltage-clamp pulses, and recovers from inactivation with exactly the same time course as the sodium conductance, and one that is not inactivated. A method is described for recording the two components separately with the aid of an inactivating prepulse. They appear to have a marked difference in their rising phases, that of the non-inactivating component being just about as fast as the imposed step in membrane potential, while the inactivating component requires some tens of microseconds to reach its peak.

scholarly journals Time course of the sodium influx in squid giant axon during a single voltage clamp pulse

1970 ◽  
Vol 207 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Bezanilla ◽  
Eduardo Rojas ◽  
Robert E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Sodium Influx

scholarly journals LOW LEVEL IMPEDANCE CHANGES FOLLOWING THE SPIKE IN THE SQUID GIANT AXON BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT WITH "VERATRINE" ALKALOIDS

1953 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham M. Shanes ◽  
Harry Grundfest ◽  
Walter Freygang
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
Satisfactory Explanation ◽  
Chloride Permeability ◽  
Potential Oscillations ◽  
Temporal Course ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Conductance Changes ◽  
Conductance Increase

The increase in conductance, which accompanies the spike in the presence of sea water, is followed by a decrease to below the resting level, here designated as the "initial after-impedance," which lasts 3 msec. and is 3 per cent as great as the increase. Treatment with cevadine usually obliterates the latter but leaves the former essentially unaltered. In addition, the alkaloid gives rise to periodic conductance increases followed by a prolonged, exponentially decaying elevated conductance (the "negativity after-impedance") which correspond closely to potential oscillations and to the negative after-potential. These are also only a few per cent of the major conductance change. Veratridine causes a conductance increase which lasts longer and which also conforms closely with earlier after-potential results. Preliminary calculations indicate that the negativity after-impedance and the negative after-potential may be due to the subsidence of an elevated chloride permeability. However, no satisfactory explanation is available for the initial after-impedance or for the temporal course of the conductance changes associated with oscillations in membrane potential.

Kinetics of activation of the potassium conductance in the squid giant axon

1988 ◽  
Vol 232 (1269) ◽  
pp. 375-394 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Time Constant ◽  
Potassium Current ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Squid Giant Axon ◽  
A Value ◽  
Initial Rise ◽  
Principal Effect ◽  
Kinetics Of

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.

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