Voltage control during inward current flow in rat ventricular muscle using a double sucrose gap technique

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. F. Schanne ◽  
M. D. Payet ◽  
E. Ruiz P.-Ceretti
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Voltage Control ◽  
State Level ◽  
Slow Inward Current ◽  
Ventricular Muscle ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Inward Current ◽  
Gap Technique ◽  
Sucrose Gap

In rat ventricular muscle, measurements of the membrane potential with microelectrodes during depolarizing voltage steps showed that deviation of the membrane potential from the command signal were never larger than 15 mV during flow of the fast inward current and that voltage control was regained within 15 ms after the beginning of the voltage step. During the flow of the slow inward current, tail currents elicited by interrupting the time course of the slow current at different time intervals returned exponentially to the steady-state level, thus indicating acceptable voltage control. It is concluded that rat ventricular muscle is a rather favorable preparation for voltage-clamp experiments and this is attributed mainly to the geometry of the preparation.

Effects of ischemic conditions and reperfusion on depolarization-induced automaticity

1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (5) ◽  
pp. H992-H999 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Mohabir ◽  
G. R. Ferrier
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Cycle Length ◽  
Slow Inward Current ◽  
Potential Range ◽  
Ischemia And Reperfusion ◽  
Slow Response ◽  
Inward Current ◽  
High Membrane Potential

The inducibility of slow-response automaticity was assessed during ischemic conditions and reperfusion by application of extracellular current. Isolated canine Purkinje fibers were depolarized to membrane potentials less than -65 mV to elicit depolarization-induced automaticity (DIA). Ischemic conditions increased the cycle length of DIA and, in some tissues, prevented sustained DIA or completely abolished DIA. The magnitude of depolarization required to elicit DIA also increased. Inhibition of DIA occurred at a time when action potential plateaus were abbreviated. The effect of reperfusion on DIA was biphasic. Initial reappearance of DIA was followed by inhibition and reduction of the membrane potential range over which DIA could be elicited. Plateaus of action potentials initiated at high membrane potential were abbreviated at this time. DIA returned again as reperfusion effects dissipated. Phasic changes in the inducibility of DIA may represent changes in availability of the slow inward current and may regulate the timing and types of arrhythmic activity occurring with ischemia and reperfusion.

scholarly journals Membrane Potentials of the Lobster Giant Axon Obtained by Use of the Sucrose-Gap Technique

1962 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1195-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred J. Julian ◽  
John W. Moore ◽  
David E. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Sucrose Solution ◽  
Chloride Concentration ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Membrane Resistance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Gap Technique ◽  
Sucrose Gap

A method similar to the sucrose-gap technique introduced be Stäpfli is described for measuring membrane potential and current in singly lobster giant axons (diameter about 100 micra). The isotonic sucrose solution used to perfuse the gaps raises the external leakage resistance so that the recorded potential is only about 5 per cent less than the actual membrane potential. However, the resting potential of an axon in the sucrose-gap arrangement is increased 20 to 60 mv over that recorded by a conventional micropipette electrode when the entire axon is bathed in sea water. A complete explanation for this effect has not been discovered. The relation between resting potential and external potassium and sodium ion concentrations shows that potassium carries most of the current in a depolarized axon in the sucrose-gap arrangement, but that near the resting potential other ions make significant contributions. Lowering the external chloride concentration decreases the resting potential. Varying the concentration of the sucrose solution has little effect. A study of the impedance changes associated with the action potential shows that the membrane resistance decreases to a minimum at the peak of the spike and returns to near its initial value before repolarization is complete (a normal lobster giant axon action potential does not have an undershoot). Action potentials recorded simultaneously by the sucrose-gap technique and by micropipette electrodes are practically superposable.

scholarly journals Membrane Currents in Mammalian Ventricular Heart Muscle Fibers Using a Voltage-Clamp Technique

1971 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Giebisch ◽  
Silvio Weidmann
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Outward Current ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Equilibrium Potential ◽  
Initial Amplitude ◽  
Inward Current ◽  
Gap Technique ◽  
Sucrose Gap

Bundles of sheep ventricular fibers were voltage-clamped utilizing a modified sucrose gap technique and intracellular voltage control. An action potential was fired off in the usual way, and the clamp circuit was switched on at preselected times during activity. Clamping the membrane back to its resting potential during the early part of an action potential resulted in a surge of inward current. The initial amplitude of this current surge decreased as the clamp was switched on progressively later during the action potential. Inward current decreasing as a function of time was also recorded if the membrane potential was clamped beyond the presumed K equilibrium potential (to -130 mv). Clamping the membrane to the inside positive range (+40 mv to +60 mv) at different times of an action potential resulted in a step of outward current which was not time-dependent. The results suggest that normal repolarization of sheep ventricle depends on a time-dependent decrease of inward current (Na, Ca) rather than on a time-dependent increase of outward current (K).

Caffeine-induced current in embryonic heart cells: time course and voltage dependence

1983 ◽  
Vol 245 (3) ◽  
pp. H528-H532 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. T. Clusin ◽  
R. Fischmeister ◽  
R. L. DeHaan
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Reversal Potential ◽  
Myocardial Cell ◽  
Slow Inward Current ◽  
Heart Cells ◽  
Induced Current ◽  
Inward Current ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Micron Diameter ◽  
Current Voltage Relation

Abrupt exposure of 90- to 130-micron diameter chick embryonic myocardial cell aggregates to 10 mM caffeine has been shown to induce a transient inward current. In the present study, we recorded a similar current in small cell clusters (less than 10 cells) in which access of caffeine to each of the cells was rapid. The resulting inward current consisted of a single peak, which decayed exponentially (predominant time constant 335 +/- 130 ms at -40 mV) and had a peak amplitude of up to 15.5 microA/cm2. The caffeine-induced current persisted when the slow inward current was abolished by a 30-s pretreatment with 2 microM D 600 and could be observed at potentials where the fast sodium channels were fully inactivated. The current-voltage relation of the caffeine response was linear between -110 and -40 mV, giving an extrapolated voltage intercept of +12 mV. However, the inward current did not diminish or reverse with further depolarization. A substantial inward current occurred at potentials up to +60 mV, which is more positive than the reversal potential of the tetrodotoxin-sensitive inward current. We conclude that the caffeine-induced current is mediated in part by electrogenic Na+-Ca2+ exchange.

scholarly journals Selective modification of sodium channel gating in lobster axons by 2, 4, 6-trinitrophenol: Evidence for two inactivation mechanisms.

1975 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 765-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
G S Oxford ◽  
J P Pooler
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Sodium Currents ◽  
Voltage Range ◽  
Sodium Conductance ◽  
Gap Technique ◽  
Voltage Curve ◽  
Sucrose Gap ◽  
Sodium Inactivation ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
Double Sucrose Gap Technique

Trinitrophernol (TNP) selectively alters the sodium conductance system of lobster giant axons as measured in current clamp and voltage clamp experiments using the double sucrose gap technique. TNP has no measurable effect on potassium currents but reversibly prolongs the time-course of sodium currents during maintained depolarizations over the full voltage range of observable currents. Action potential durations are increased also. Tm of the Hodgkin-Huxley model is not markedly altered during activation of the sodium conductance but is prolonged during removal of activation by repolarization, as observed in sodium tail experiments. The sodium inactivation versus voltage curve is shifted in the hyperpolarizing direction as is the inactivation time constant curve, measured with conditioning voltage steps. This shift speeds the kinetics of inactivation over part of the same voltage range in which sodium currents are prolonged, a contradiction incompatible with the Hodgkin-Huxley model. These results are interpreted as support for a hypothesis of two inactivation processes, one proceeding directly from the resting state and the other coupled to the active state of sodium conductance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document