scholarly journals Sodium channel subconductance levels measured with a new variance-mean analysis.

1988 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
J B Patlak

The currents through single Na+ channels were recorded from dissociated cells of the flexor digitorum brevis muscle of the mouse. At 15 degrees C the prolonged bursts of Na+ channel openings produced by application of the drug DPI 201-106 had brief sojourns to subconductance levels. The subconductance events were relatively rare and brief, but could be identified using a new technique that sorts amplitude estimates based on their variance. The resulting "levels histogram" had a resolution of the conductance levels during channel activity that was superior to that of standard amplitude histograms. Cooling the preparation to 0 degrees C prolonged the subconductance events, and permitted further quantitative analysis of their amplitudes, as well as clear observations of single-channel subconductance events from untreated Na+ channels. In all cases the results were similar: a subconductance level, with an amplitude of roughly 35% of the fully open conductance and similar reversal potential, was present in both drug-treated and normal Na+ channels. Drug-treated channels spent approximately 3-6% of their total open time in the subconductance state over a range of potentials that caused the open probability to vary between 0.1 and 0.9. The summed levels histograms from many channels had a distinctive form, with broader, asymmetrical open and substate distributions compared with those of the closed state. Individual subconductance events to levels other than the most common 35% were also observed. I conclude that subconductance events are a normal subset of the open state of Na+ channels, whether or not they are drug treated. The subconductance events may represent a conformational alteration of the channel that occurs when it conducts ions.

1992 ◽  
Vol 263 (3) ◽  
pp. F392-F400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Marunaka ◽  
N. Hagiwara ◽  
H. Tohda

Using the patch-clamp technique, we studied the effect of insulin on an amiloride-blockable Na channel in the apical membrane of a distal nephron cell line (A6) cultured on permeable collagen films for 10-14 days. NPo (N, number of channels per patch membrane; Po, average value of open probability of individual channels in the patch) under baseline conditions was 0.88 +/- 0.12 (SE)(n = 17). After making cell-attached patches on the apical membrane which contained Na channels, insulin (1 mU/ml) was applied to the serosal bath. While maintaining the cell-attached patch, NPo significantly increased to 1.48 +/- 0.19 (n = 17; P less than 0.001) after 5-10 min of insulin application. The open probability of Na channels was 0.39 +/- 0.01 (n = 38) under baseline condition, and increased to 0.66 +/- 0.03 (n = 38, P less than 0.001) after addition of insulin. The baseline single-channel conductance was 4pS, and neither the single-channel conductance nor the current-voltage relationship was significantly changed by insulin. These results indicate that insulin increases Na absorption in the distal nephron by increasing the open probability of the amiloride-blockable Na channel.


Blood ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Y. Cheung ◽  
Xue-Qian Zhang ◽  
Krister Bokvist ◽  
Douglas L. Tillotson ◽  
Barbara A. Miller

Abstract Erythropoietin (Epo) induces a dose-dependent increase in intracellular free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i ) in human erythroblasts, which is dependent on extracellular Ca2+ and blocked by high doses of nifedipine or Ni2+. In addition, pretreatment of human erythroblasts with mouse antihuman erythropoietin receptor antibody but not mouse immunopure IgG blocked the Epo-induced [Ca2+]i increase, indicating the specificity of the Ca2+ response to Epo stimulation. In this study, the erythropoietin-regulated calcium channel was identified by single channel recordings. Use of conventional whole cell patch-clamp failed to detect Epo-induced whole cell Ca2+ current. To minimize washout of cytosolic constituents, we next used nystatin perforated patch, but did not find any Epo-induced whole cell Ca2+ current. Using Ba2+ (30 mmol/L) as charge carrier in cell-attached patches, we detected single channels with unitary conductance of 3.2 pS, reversal potential of +72 mV, and whose unitary current (at +10 mV) increased monotonically with increasing Ba2+ concentrations. Channel open probability did not appreciably change over the voltage range (−50 to +30 mV) tested. Epo (2 U/mL) increased both mean open time (from 4.27 ± 0.75 to 11.15 ± 1.80 ms) and open probability (from 0.26 ± 0.06 to 2.56 ± 0.59%) of this Ba2+-permeable channel. Our data strongly support the conclusion that the Epo-induced [Ca2+]i increase in human erythroblasts is mediated via Ca2+ entry through a voltage-independent Ca2+ channel.


Blood ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Y. Cheung ◽  
Xue-Qian Zhang ◽  
Krister Bokvist ◽  
Douglas L. Tillotson ◽  
Barbara A. Miller

Erythropoietin (Epo) induces a dose-dependent increase in intracellular free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i ) in human erythroblasts, which is dependent on extracellular Ca2+ and blocked by high doses of nifedipine or Ni2+. In addition, pretreatment of human erythroblasts with mouse antihuman erythropoietin receptor antibody but not mouse immunopure IgG blocked the Epo-induced [Ca2+]i increase, indicating the specificity of the Ca2+ response to Epo stimulation. In this study, the erythropoietin-regulated calcium channel was identified by single channel recordings. Use of conventional whole cell patch-clamp failed to detect Epo-induced whole cell Ca2+ current. To minimize washout of cytosolic constituents, we next used nystatin perforated patch, but did not find any Epo-induced whole cell Ca2+ current. Using Ba2+ (30 mmol/L) as charge carrier in cell-attached patches, we detected single channels with unitary conductance of 3.2 pS, reversal potential of +72 mV, and whose unitary current (at +10 mV) increased monotonically with increasing Ba2+ concentrations. Channel open probability did not appreciably change over the voltage range (−50 to +30 mV) tested. Epo (2 U/mL) increased both mean open time (from 4.27 ± 0.75 to 11.15 ± 1.80 ms) and open probability (from 0.26 ± 0.06 to 2.56 ± 0.59%) of this Ba2+-permeable channel. Our data strongly support the conclusion that the Epo-induced [Ca2+]i increase in human erythroblasts is mediated via Ca2+ entry through a voltage-independent Ca2+ channel.


1984 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Yamamoto ◽  
J Z Yeh

The kinetics of 9-aminoacridine (9-AA) block of single Na channels in neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells were studied using the gigohm seal, patch clamp technique, under the condition in which the Na current inactivation had been eliminated by treatment with N-bromoacetamide (NBA). Following NBA treatment, the current flowing through individual Na channels was manifested by square-wave open events lasting from several to tens of milliseconds. When 9-AA was applied to the cytoplasmic face of Na channels at concentrations ranging from 30 to 100 microM, it caused repetitive rapid transitions (flickering) between open and blocked states within single openings of Na channels, without affecting the amplitude of the single channel current. The histograms for the duration of blocked states and the histograms for the duration of open states could be fitted with a single-exponential function. The mean open time (tau o) became shorter as the drug concentration was increased, while the mean blocked time (tau b) was concentration independent. The association (blocking) rate constant, kappa, calculated from the slope of the curve relating the reciprocal mean open time to 9-AA concentration, showed little voltage dependence, the rate constant being on the order of 1 X 10(7) M-1s-1. The dissociation (unblocking) rate constant, l, calculated from the mean blocked time, was strongly voltage dependent, the mean rate constant being 214 s-1 at 0 mV and becoming larger as the membrane being hyperpolarized. The voltage dependence suggests that a first-order blocking site is located at least 63% of the way through the membrane field from the cytoplasmic surface. The equilibrium dissociation constant for 9-AA to block the Na channel, defined by the relation of l/kappa, was calculated to be 21 microM at 0 mV. Both tau -1o and tau -1b had a Q10 of 1.3, which suggests that binding reaction was diffusion controlled. The burst time in the presence of 9-AA, which is the sum of open times and blocked times, was longer than the lifetime of open channels in the absence of drug. All of the features of 9-AA block of single Na channels are compatible with the sequential model in which 9-AA molecules block open Na channels, and the blocked channels could not close until 9-AA molecules had left the blocking site in the channels.


1987 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
S S Garber ◽  
C Miller

Voltage-sensitive Na+ channels from rat skeletal muscle plasma membrane vesicles were inserted into planar lipid bilayers in the presence of either of the alkaloid toxins veratridine (VT) or batrachotoxin (BTX). Both of these toxins are known to cause persistent activation of Na+ channels. With BTX as the channel activator, single channels remain open nearly all the time. Channels activated with VT open and close on a time scale of 1-10 s. Increasing the VT concentration enhances the probability of channel opening, primarily by increasing the rate constant of opening. The kinetics and voltage dependence of channel block by 21-sulfo-11-alpha-hydroxysaxitoxin are identical for VT and BTX, as is the ionic selectivity sequence determined by bi-ionic reversal potential (Na+ approximately Li+ greater than K+ greater than Rb+ greater than Cs+). However, there are striking quantitative differences in open channel conduction for channels in the presence of the two activators. Under symmetrical solution conditions, the single channel conductance for Na+ is about twice as high with BTX as with VT. Furthermore, the symmetrical solution single channel conductances show a different selectivity for BTX (Na+ greater than Li+ greater than K+) than for VT (Na+ greater than K+ greater than Li+). Open channel current-voltage curves in symmetrical Na+ and Li+ are roughly linear, while those in symmetrical K+ are inwardly rectifying. Na+ currents are blocked asymmetrically by K+ with both BTX and VT, but the voltage dependence of K+ block is stronger with BTX than with VT. The results show that the alkaloid neurotoxins not only alter the gating process of the Na+ channel, but also affect the structure of the open channel. We further conclude that the rate-determining step for conduction by Na+ does not occur at the channel's "selectivity filter," where poorly permeating ions like K+ are excluded.


1995 ◽  
Vol 106 (6) ◽  
pp. 1053-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Hirschberg ◽  
A Rovner ◽  
M Lieberman ◽  
J Patlak

Voltage-dependent Na+ channels are thought to sense membrane potential with fixed charges located within the membrane's electrical field. Measurement of open probability (Po) as a function of membrane potential gives a quantitative indication of the number of such charges that move through the field in opening the channel. We have used single-channel recording to measure skeletal muscle Na+ channel open probability at its most negative extreme, where channels may open as seldom as once per minute. To prevent fast inactivation from masking the voltage dependence of Po, we have generated a clone of the rat skeletal muscle Na+ channel that is lacking in fast inactivation (IFM1303QQQ). Using this mutant channel expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and the extra resolution afforded by single-channel analysis, we have extended the resolution of the hyperpolarized tail of the Po curve by four orders of magnitude. We show that previous measurements, which indicated a minimum of six effective gating charges, may have been made in a range of Po values that had not yet arrived at its limiting slope. In our preparation, a minimum of 12 charges must function in the activation gating of the channel. Our results will require reevaluation of kinetic models based on six charges, and they have major implications for the interpretation of S4 mutagenesis studies and structure/function models of the Na+ channel.


1994 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 801-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Benndorf

Single Na channel currents were recorded in cell-attached patches of mouse ventricular myocytes with an improved patch clamp technique. Using patch pipettes with a pore diameter in the range of 200 nm, seals with a resistance of up to 4 T omega were obtained. Under those conditions, total noise could be reduced to levels as low as 0.590 pA rms at 20 kHz band width. At this band width, properties of single-channel Na currents were studied at 35 degrees C. Six out of a total of 23 patches with teraohm seals contained channel activity and five of these patches contained one and only one active channel. Amplitude histograms excluding transition points showed heterogenous distributions of levels. In one patch, part of the openings was approximately Gaussian distributed at different potentials yielding a slope conductance of 27 pS. The respective peak open probability at -10 mV was 0.26. The mean open time was determined at voltages between -60 and -10 mV by evaluation of the distribution of the event-related gaps in the center of the baseline noise to be approximately 40 microseconds at -60 mV and 50-74 microseconds between -50 and -10 mV. It is concluded that single cardiac Na channels open at 35 degrees C frequently with multiple levels and with open times in the range of several tens of microseconds.


1986 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
J B Patlak ◽  
M Ortiz

Na+ currents were measured during 0.4-s depolarizing pulses using the cell-attached variation of the patch-clamp technique. Patches on Cs-dialyzed segments of sartorius muscle of Rana pipiens contained an estimated 25-500 Na+ channels. Three distinct types of current were observed after the pulse onset: a large initial surge of inward current that decayed within 10 ms (early currents), a steady "drizzle" of isolated, brief, inward unitary currents (background currents), and occasional "cloudbursts" of tens to hundreds of sequential unitary inward currents (bursts). Average late currents (background plus bursts) were 0.12% of peak early current amplitude at -20 mV. 85% of the late currents were carried by bursting channels. The unit current amplitude was the same for all three types of current, with a conductance of 10.5 pS and a reversal potential of +74 mV. The magnitudes of the three current components were correlated from patch to patch, and all were eliminated by slow inactivation. We conclude that all three components were due to Na+ channel activity. The mean open time of the background currents was approximately 0.25 ms, and the channels averaged 1.2 openings for each event. Neither the open time nor the number of openings of background currents was strongly sensitive to membrane potential. We estimated that background openings occurred at a rate of 0.25 Hz for each channel. Bursts occurred once each 2,000 pulses for each channel (assuming identical channels). The open time during bursts increased with depolarization to 1-2 ms at -20 mV, whereas the closed time decreased to less than 20 ms. The fractional open time during bursts was fitted with m infinity 3 using standard Na+ channel models. We conclude that background currents are caused by a return of normal Na+ channels from inactivation, while bursts are instances where the channel's inactivation gate spontaneously loses its function for prolonged periods.


1991 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
J F García-Díaz

Whole-cell and single channel currents were studied in cells from frog (R. pipiens and R. catesbiana) skin epithelium, isolated by collagenase and trypsin treatment, and kept in primary cultures up to three days. Whole-cell currents did not exhibit any significant time-dependent kinetics under any ionic conditions used. With an external K gluconate Ringer solution the currents showed slight inward rectification with a reversal potential near zero and an average conductance of 5 nS at reversal. Ionic substitution of the external medium showed that most of the cell conductance was due to K and that very little, if any, Na conductance was present. This confirmed that most cells originate from inner epithelial layers and contain membranes with basolateral properties. At voltages more positive than 20 mV outward currents were larger with K in the medium than with Na or N-methyl-D-glucamine. Such behavior is indicative of a multi-ion transport mechanism. Whole-cell K current was inhibited by external Ba and quinidine. Blockade by Ba was strongly voltage dependent, while that by quinidine was not. In the presence of high external Cl, a component of outward current that was inhibited by the anion channel blocker diphenylamine-2-carboxylate (DPC) appeared in 70% of the cells. This component was strongly outwardly rectifying and reversed at a potential expected for a Cl current. At the single channel level the event most frequently observed in the cell-attached configuration was a K channel with the following characteristics: inward-rectifying I-V relation with a conductance (with 112.5 mM K in the pipette) of 44 pS at the reversal potential, one open and at least two closed states, and open probability that increased with depolarization. Quinidine blocked by binding in the open state and decreasing mean open time. Several observations suggest that this channel is responsible for most of the whole-cell current observed in high external K, and for the K conductance of the basolateral membrane of the intact epithelium. On a few occasions a Cl channel was observed that activated upon excision and brief strong depolarization. The I-V relation exhibited strong outward rectification with a single channel conductance of 48 pS at 0 mV in symmetrical 112 mM Cl solutions. Kinetic analysis showed the presence of two open and at least two closed states. Open time constants and open probability increased markedly with depolarization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1996 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
L G Palmer ◽  
G Frindt

The gating kinetics of apical membrane Na channels in the rat cortical collecting tubule were assessed in cell-attached and inside-out excised patches from split-open tubules using the patch-clamp technique. In patches containing a single channel the open probability (Po) was variable, ranging from 0.05 to 0.9. The average Po was 0.5. However, the individual values were not distributed normally, but were mainly < or = 0.25 or > or = 0.75. Mean open times and mean closed times were correlated directly and inversely, respectively, with Po. In patches where a sufficient number of events could be recorded, two time constants were required to describe the open-time and closed-time distributions. In most patches in which basal Po was < 0.3 the channels could be activated by hyperpolarization of the apical membrane. In five such patches containing a single channel hyperpolarization by 40 mV increased Po by 10-fold, from 0.055 +/- 0.023 to 0.58 +/- 0.07. This change reflected an increase in the mean open time of the channels from 52 +/- 17 to 494 +/- 175 ms and a decrease in the mean closed time from 1,940 +/- 350 to 336 +/- 100 ms. These responses, however, could not be described by a simple voltage dependence of the opening and closing rates. In many cases significant delays in both the activation by hyperpolarization and deactivation by depolarization were observed. These delays ranged from several seconds to several tens of seconds. Similar effects of voltage were seen in cell-attached and excised patches, arguing against a voltage-dependent chemical modification of the channel, such as a phosphorylation. Rather, the channels appeared to switch between gating modes. These switches could be spontaneous but were strongly influenced by changes in membrane voltage. Voltage dependence of channel gating was also observed under whole-cell clamp conditions. To see if mechanical perturbations could also influence channel kinetics or gating mode, negative pressures of 10-60 mm Hg were applied to the patch pipette. In most cases (15 out of 22), this maneuver had no significant effect on channel behavior. In 6 out of 22 patches, however, there was a rapid and reversible increase in Po when the pressure was applied. In one patch, there was a reversible decrease. While no consistent effects of pressure could be documented, membrane deformation could contribute to the variation in Po under some conditions.


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