scholarly journals A synthetic strand of cardiac muscle: its passive electrical properties.

1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Lieberman ◽  
T Sawanobori ◽  
J M Kootsey ◽  
E A Johnson

The passive electrical properties of synthetic strands of cardiac muscle, grown in tissue culture, were studied using two intracellular microelectrodes: one to inject a rectangular pulse of current and the other to record the resultant displacement of membrane potential at various distances from the current source. In all preparations, the potential displacement, instead of approaching a steady value as would be expected for a cell with constant electrical properties, increased slowly with time throughout the current step. In such circumstances, the specific electrical constants for the membrane and cytoplasm must not be obtained by applying the usual methods, which are based on the analytical solution of the partial differential equation describing a one-dimensional cell with constant electrical properties. A satisfactory fit of the potential waveforms was, however, obtained with numerical solutions of a modified form of this equation in which the membrane resistance increased linearly with time. Best fits of the waveforms from 12 preparations gave the following values for the membrane resistance times unit length, membrane capacitance per unit length, and for the myoplasmic resistance: 1.22 plus or minus 0.13 x 10-5 omegacm, 0.224 plus or minus 0.023 uF with cm-minus 1, and 1.37 plus or minus 0.13 x 10-7 omegacm-minus 1, respectively. The value of membrane capacitance per unit length was close to that obtained from the time constant of the foot of the action potential and was in keeping with the generally satisfactory fit of the recorded waveforms with solutions of the cable equation in which the membrane impedance is that of a single capacitor and resistor in parallel. The area of membrane per unit length and the cross-sectional area of myoplasm at any given length of the preparation were determined from light and composite electron micrographs, and these were used to calculate the following values for the specific electrical membrane resistance, membrane capacitance, and the resistivity of the cytoplasm: 20.5 plus or minus 3.0 x 10-3 omegacm-2, l.54 plus or minus 0.24 uFWITHcm-minus 2, and 180 plus or minus 34 omegacm, respectively.

Author(s):  
Fernando Seoane ◽  
Ramón Bragos ◽  
Kaj Lindecrantz ◽  
Pere Riu

The passive electrical properties of biological tissue have been studied since the 1920s, and with time, the use of Electrical Bioimpedance (EBI) in medicine has successfully spread (Schwan, 1999). Since the electrical properties of tissue are frequency-dependent (Schwan, 1957), observations of the bioimpedance spectrum have created the discipline of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), a discipline that has experienced a development closely related to the progress of electronic instrumentation and the dissemination of EBI technology through medicine.


1969 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Gage ◽  
Robert S. Eisenberg

The passive electrical properties of glycerol-treated muscle fibers, which have virtually no transverse tubules, were determined. Current was passed through one intracellular microelectrode and the time course and spatial distribution of the resulting potential displacement measured with another. The results were analyzed by using conventional cable equations. The membrane resistance of fibers without tubules was 3759 ± 331 ohm-cm2 and the internal resistivity 192 ohm-cm. Both these figures are essentially the same as those found in normal muscle fibers. The capacitance of the fibers without tubules is strikingly smaller than normal, being 2.24 ± 0.14 µF/cm2. Measurements were also made of the passive electrical properties of fibers in a Ringer solution containing 400 mM glycerol (which is used in the preparation of glycerol-treated fibers). The membrane resistance and capacitance are essentially normal, but the internal resistivity is somewhat reduced. These results show that glycerol in this concentration does not directly affect the membrane capacitance. Thus, the figure for the capacitance of glycerol-treated fibers, which agrees well with previous estimates made by different techniques, represents the capacitance of the outer membrane of the fiber. Estimates of the capacitance per unit area of the tubular membrane are made and the significance of the difference between the figures for the capacitance of the surface and tubular membrane is discussed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 3442-3450 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. N. Wright ◽  
B. L. Bardakjian ◽  
T. A. Valiante ◽  
J. L. Perez-Velazquez ◽  
P. L. Carlen

1. The passive electrical properties of whole cell patched dentate granule cells were studied with the use of zero-mean Gaussian white noise current stimuli. Transmembrane voltage responses were used to compute the first-order Wiener kernels describing the current-voltage relationship at the soma for six cells. Frequency domain optimization techniques using a gradient method for function minimization were then employed to identify the optimal electrical parameter values. Low-power white noise stimuli are presented as a favorable alternative to the use of short-pulse current inputs for investigating neuronal passive electrical properties. 2. The optimization results demonstrated that the lumped resistive and capacitive properties of the recording electrode must be included in the analytic input impedance expression to optimally fit the measured cellular responses. The addition of the electrode resistance (Re) and capacitance (Ce) to the original parameters (somatic conductance, somatic capacitance, axial resistance, dendritic conductance, and dendritic capacitance) results in a seven-parameter model. The mean Ce value from the six cells was 5.4 +/- 0.3 (SE) pF, whereas Re following formation of the patch was found to be 20 +/- 2 M omega. 3. The six dentate granule cells were found to have an input resistance of 600 +/- 20 M omega and a dendritic to somatic conductance ratio of 6.3 +/- 1.1. The electronic length of the equivalent dendritic cylinder was found to be 0.42 +/- 0.03. The membrane time constant in the soma was found to be 13 +/- 3 ms, whereas the membrane time constant of the dendrites was 58 +/- 5 ms. Incorporation of morphological estimations led to the following distributed electrical parameters: somatic membrane resistance = 25 +/- 4 k omega cm2, somatic membrane capacitance = 0.48 +/- 0.05 microF/cm2, Ri (input resistance) = 72 +/- 5 omega cm, dendritic membrane resistance = 59 +/- 4 k omega cm2, and dendritic membrane capacitance = 0.97 +/- 0.06 microF/cm2. On the basis of capacitive measurements, the ratio of dendritic surface area to somatic surface area was found to be 34 +/- 2. 4. For comparative purposes, hyperpolarizing short pulses were also injected into each cell. The short-pulse input impedance measurements were found to underestimate the input resistance of the cell and to overestimate both the somatic conductance and the membrane time constants relative to the white noise input impedance measurements.


1982 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-125
Author(s):  
ROBERT K. JOSEPHSON ◽  
DARRELL R. STOKES

1. The mesothoracic dorsal longitudinal muscle (DLM) of the katydid Neoconocephalus robustus is used in stridulation and flight; the metathoracic DLM is used in flight only. The DLM's in the two segments have radically different maximum operating frequencies, 200 Hz for the mesothoracic muscle during stridulation and 20 Hz for the metathoracic muscle during flight. 2. Cable analysis was used to determine the passive electrical properties of mesothoracic and metathoracic DLM fibres. Fibres in the two segments are of similar diameter and have similar sarcoplasmic resistivity. The apparent membrane resistance is lower, the apparent membrane capacitance higher, and the time constant shorter in mesothoracic fibres than in the metathoracic homologues. 3. The depolarization evoked by neural stimulation in both mesothoracic and metathoracic fibres is principally an excitatory junctional potential (e.j.p.) with little or no contribution from voltage-dependent, inward current channels. At short interstimulus intervals the second e.j.p. of a pair is reduced in amplitude relative to the first e.j.p. The period of e.j.p. depression is shorter in mesothoracic than in metathoracic fibres. It is suggested that the faster recovery of e.j.p.'s in mesothoracic fibres is due to more rapid recovery of the transmitter release mechanism in their motorneurones. 4. In mesothoracic but not metathoracic fibres the voltage response to large depolarizing currents is usually oscillatory, and the recovery of e.j.p. amplitude as a function of time in paired shock experiments is sometimes oscillatory. The oscillation frequency is 250–300 Hz (35 °C) which is higher than the natural operating frequency of the muscle.


1987 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Adams

1. The thermal dependence of passive electrical properties was determined for twitch fibres from the white region of the iliofibularis (IF) muscle of Anolis cristatellus (15–35 degrees C) and Sceloporus occidentalis (15–40 degrees C), and for twitch fibres from the white (15–45 degrees C) and red (15–40 degrees C) regions of the IF of Dipsosaurus dorsalis. These species differ in thermal ecology, with Anolis being the least thermophilic and Dipsosaurus the most thermophilic. 2. Iliofibularis fibres from the three species reacted similarly to changing temperature. As temperature was increased, input resistance (Rin) decreased (average R10 = 0.7), length constant (L) decreased (average R10 = 0.9), time constant (tau) decreased (average R10 = 0.8), sarcoplasmic resistivity (Rs) decreased (average R10 = 0.8) and apparent membrane resistance (Rm) decreased (average R10 = 0.7). In contrast, apparent membrane capacitance (Cm) increased with increasing temperature (average R10 = 1.3). 3. Rin, L, tau and apparent Rm were lowest in fibres from Anolis (the least thermophilic species) and highest in fibres from Dipsosaurus (the most thermophilic species). Anolis had the largest and Dipsosaurus the smallest diameter fibres (126 and 57 micron, respectively). Apparent Cm was highest in fibres from Sceloporus, which had fibres of intermediate diameter (101 micron). Rs did not differ significantly among species. 4. The effect of temperature on the passive electrical properties of these lizard fibres was similar to that reported for muscle fibres from other ectothermic animals (crustaceans, insects, fish and amphibians) but qualitatively different from that reported for some mammalian (cat tenuissimus, goat intercostal) fibres. The changes that occur in the passive electrical properties render the fibres less excitable as temperature increases.


1979 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-211
Author(s):  
C. K. LANGLEY

(1) Thermal acclimation of the Fi neurone does not appear to result from changes in the chemical composition of the haemolymph. This is deduced from the lack of effect on the electrical characteristics of control neurones of either pooled haemolymph from acclimated individuals, or variations in the experimental salines made in accordance with haemolymph analyses. (2) Changes in [Ca]0 tended to act cooperatively with temperature shifts to induce alterations in the electrical properties of the neurone, notably to increase excitability and lower membrane resistance. (3) Warm acclimation was associated with increased resting conductance of the neuronal membrane to sodium and potassium, whereas chloride conductance appeared little affected.


1980 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
D. Mellon ◽  
G. Lnenicka

The morphologies and passive electrical parameters of fibres in two eye muscles of a surface- and a cave-dwelling crayfish were compared. In the cave-dwelling form the muscles contained fewer fibres, of less diameter, and hence had a smaller cross-sectional area. Current-voltage relationships were similar in both species. Input resistance was higher in the cave-dweller, but the difference was not as great as would be expected on the basis of geometry alone. Accordingly, the specific membrane resistance of muscle fibres in the cave-dweller is 50–60% smaller than that in the surface-dweller. This may account partially for the observation that identified excitatory junctional potentials in muscles of cave- and surface dwellers have similar amplitudes. We conclude that a functional oculomotor system is maintained in cave-dwelling crayfish, and that this system confers some positive selective advantage.


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