scholarly journals ELECTRO-MECHANICAL COUPLING IN CRAYFISH MUSCLE FIBERS EXAMINED BY THE VOLTAGE CLAMP METHOD

1972 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moto MATSUMURA
Keyword(s):  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Mechanical Coupling ◽  
Crayfish Muscle ◽  
Voltage Clamp Method

Transient potassium currents in slow muscle fibers

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 882-885
Author(s):  
James G. McLarnon
Keyword(s):  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Potassium Current ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Transient Behavior ◽  
Slow Muscle ◽  
Membrane Bound ◽  
Test Current ◽  
Charged Group ◽  
Voltage Clamp Method

Transient changes in potassium conductance in chronically depolarized slow muscle fibers have been studied using a voltage clamp method. The transient behavior included current decays from initial to steady state for hyperpolarizing and depolarizing voltage clamp steps. A two-pulse voltage clamp sequence (conditioning step followed by test step) showed the initial potassium test current to depend sigmoidally on conditioning potential implicating the involvement of a membrane-bound charged group in regulating potassium current.

Fast BK-Type Channel Mediates the Ca2+-Activated K+ Current in Crayfish Muscle

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 1655-1661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Araque ◽  
Washington Buño
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Ionic Channels ◽  
Bk Channels ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Open Probability ◽  
Crayfish Muscle ◽  
Fast Activation ◽  
Inside Out

The role of the Ca2+-activated K+ current ( I K(Ca)) in crayfish opener muscle fibers is functionally important because it regulates the graded electrical activity that is characteristic of these fibers. Using the cell-attached and inside-out configurations of the patch-clamp technique, we found three different classes of channels with properties that matched those expected of the three different ionic channels mediating the depolarization-activated macroscopic currents previously described (Ca2+, K+, and Ca2+-dependent K+ currents). We investigated the properties of the ionic channels mediating the extremely fast activating and persistent I K(Ca). These voltage- and Ca2+-activated channels had a mean single-channel conductance of ∼ 70 pS and showed a very fast activation. Both the single-channel open probability and the speed of activation increased with depolarization. Both parameters also increased in inside-out patches, i.e., in high Ca2+concentration. Intracellular loading with the Ca2+ chelator bis(2-aminophenoxy) ethane- N, N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid gradually reduced and eventually prevented channel openings. The channels opened at very brief delays after the pulse depolarization onset (<5 ms), and the time-dependent open probability was constant during sustained depolarization (≤560 ms), matching both the extremely fast activation kinetics and the persistent nature of the macroscopic I K(Ca). However, the intrinsic properties of these single channels do not account for the partial apparent inactivation of the macroscopic I K(Ca), which probably reflects temporal Ca2+ variations in the whole muscle fiber. We conclude that the channels mediating I K(Ca) in crayfish muscle are voltage- and Ca2+-gated BK channels with relatively small conductance. The intrinsic properties of these channels allow them to act as precise Ca2+ sensors that supply the exact feedback current needed to control the graded electrical activity and therefore the contraction of opener muscle fibers.

scholarly journals Optical signals from surface and T system membranes in skeletal muscle fibers. Experiments with the potentiometric dye NK2367.

1982 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Heiny ◽  
J Vergara
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Surface Membrane ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Optical Signal ◽  
Intensity Change ◽  
Optical Signals ◽  
Potential Control ◽  
Skeletal Muscle Fibers ◽  
T System

Absorbance signals were recorded from cut single skeletal muscle fibers stained with the nonpenetrating potentiometric dye NK2367 and mounted in a three-vaseline-gap voltage clamp. The characteristics of the optical signals recorded under current and voltage-clamp conditions were studied at various wavelengths between 500 and 800 nm using unpolarized light. Our results indicate that the absorbance signals recorded with this dye reflect potential changes across both the surface and T system membranes and that the relative contribution of each of these membrane compartments to the total optical change is strongly wavelength dependent. A peak intensity change was detected at 720 nm for the surface membrane signal and at 670 nm for the T system. Evidence for this wavelength-dependent separation derives from an analysis of the kinetics and voltage dependence of the optical signals at different wavelengths, and results obtained in detubulated fibers. The 670-nm optical signal was used to demonstrate the lack of potential control in the T system by the voltage clamp and the effect of a tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive sodium conductance on tubular depolarization.

scholarly journals Graded Activation in Frog Muscle Fibers

1973 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Costantin ◽  
S. R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Single Muscle ◽  
Fiber Cross Section ◽  
Striation Spacing ◽  
Velocity Of Shortening ◽  
Electrode Voltage

The membrane potential of frog single muscle fibers in solutions containing tetrodotoxin was controlled with a two-electrode voltage clamp. Local contractions elicited by 100-ms square steps of depolarization were observed microscopically and recorded on cinefilm. The absence of myofibrillar folding with shortening to striation spacings below 1.95 µm served as a criterion for activation of the entire fiber cross section. With depolarizing steps of increasing magnitude, shortening occurred first in the most superficial myofibrils and spread inward to involve axial myofibrils as the depolarization was increased. In contractions in which the entire fiber cross section shortened actively, both the extent of shortening and the velocity of shortening at a given striation spacing could be graded by varying the magnitude of the depolarization step. The results provide evidence that the degree of activation of individual myofibrils can be graded with membrane depolarization.

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