Intracellular divalent cations and neuronal excitability

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 957-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Krnjević ◽  
Y. Lamour ◽  
J. F. MacDonald ◽  
A. Nistri ◽  
E. Puil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Potentials ◽  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
K Channels ◽  
Input Conductance ◽  
Conductance Increase ◽  
Spinal Motoneurones

Intracellular injections of Mg into cat spinal motoneurones have a depolarizing action, associated with a fall in input conductance, and depression of the postspike hyperpolarizing after-potential (a.h.p.) as well as its underlying conductance increase. There is also an increase in excitability, sometimes leading to outright discharge, and a change in the current–firing relation: the normal primary range is largely abolished and the firing appears to have the characteristics of the normal secondary range. Intracellular effects of Mg are thus mainly opposite to those of Ca, possibly owing to competition at sites where Ca activates K channels. Intracellular injections of Mn also tend to depress the a.h.p. but have relatively little effect on resting potential and conductance, or action potentials. Co also depresses the a.h.p. but has a more pronounced depolarizing action, and produces particularly strong depression of action potentials. By contrast intracellular Sr tends to raise the membrane conductance and has a mild hyperpolarizing effect. During the injection of Sr, a.h.p's are depressed but this is followed by a rebound of increased a.h.p. amplitude and conductance. Unlike the other divalent cations tested, Sr strongly depressed excitatory postsynaptic potentials. In most respects Sr appears to behave like Ca.

Electrical interactions between the giant axons of a polychaete worm (Sabella penicillus L.)

1980 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-136
Author(s):  
D. Mellon ◽  
J. E. Treherne ◽  
N. J. Lane ◽  
J. B. Harrison ◽  
C. K. Langley
Keyword(s):  
Safety Factor ◽  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Muscular Contraction ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Intracellular Recordings ◽  
Giant Axons ◽  
Other Hand

Intracellular recordings demonstrated a transfer of impulses between the paired giant axons of Sabella, apparently along narrow axonal processes contained within the paired commissures which link the nerve cords in each segment of the body. This transfer appears not to be achieved by chemical transmission, as has been previously supposed. This is indicated by the spread of depolarizing and hyperpolarizing voltage changes between the giant axons, the lack of effects of changes in the concentrations of external divalent cations on impulse transmission and by the effects of hyperpolarization in reducing the amplitude of the depolarizing potential which precedes the action potentials in the follower axon. The ten-to-one attenuation of electronic potentials between the giant axons argues against the possibility of an exclusively passive spread of potential along the axonal processes which link the axons. Observation of impulse traffic within the nerve cord commissures indicates, on the other hand, that transmission is achieved by conduction of action potentials along the axonal processes which link the giant axons. At least four pairs of intact commissures are necessary for inter-axonal transmission, the overall density of current injected at multiple sites on the follower axon being, it is presumed, sufficient to overcome the reduction in safety factor imposed by the geometry of the system in the region where axonal processes join the giant axons. The segmental transmission between the giant axons ensures effective synchronization of impulse traffic initiated in any region of the body and, thus, co-ordination of muscular contraction, during rapid withdrawal responses of the worm.

Effects of some divalent cations on motoneurones in cats

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 944-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Krnjević ◽  
Y. Lamour ◽  
J. F. MacDonald ◽  
A. Nistri
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Intracellular Recording ◽  
Dorsal Root ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Depressant Effect ◽  
Na Inactivation ◽  
Conductance Increase ◽  
Root Stimulation

In cats under Dial, Co, Mn, La, and Sr were injected extracellularly near lumbosacral motoneurones. All tended to improve intracellular recording, but when the membrane potential was initially stable, Mn, and especially Co, had a moderate and reproducible depolarizing action. Both Mn and Co depressed excitatory postsynaptic potentials evoked by dorsal root stimulation. The prominent after-hyperpolarization (a.h.p.), which normally follows the motoneuronal action potential, was consistently and reversibly depressed by Mn and Co (as well as La), the underlying conductance increase being also diminished, but there was no significant reduction in the after-depolarization. By contrast, Sr tended to potentiate the a.h.p., especially when this was depressed by a previous injection of Co or Mn. Unlike the other cations, Co had a marked depressant effect on the action potential, particularly its rate of rise. Since the action potential could be immediately restored by hyperpolarization or by an injection of Sr (in the absence of depolarization), Co may enhance Na inactivation.

scholarly journals The light-sensitive conductance of hyperpolarizing invertebrate photoreceptors: a patch-clamp study.

1994 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 939-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
M P Gomez ◽  
E Nasi
Keyword(s):  
Single Channel ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Reversal Potential ◽  
Outward Current ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Light Stimulation ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
Single Channel Currents

Tight-seal recording was employed to investigate membrane currents in hyperpolarizing ciliary photoreceptors enzymatically isolated from the eyes of the file clam (Lima scabra) and the bay scallop (Pecten irradians). These two organisms are unusual in that their double retinas also possess a layer of depolarizing rhabdomeric cells. Ciliary photoreceptors from Lima have a rounded soma, 15-20 microns diam, and display a prominent bundle of fine processes up to 30 microns long. The cell body of scallop cells is similar in size, but the ciliary appendages are modified, forming small spherical structures that protrude from the cell. In both species light stimulation at a voltage near the resting potential gives rise to a graded outward current several hundred pA in amplitude, accompanied by an increase in membrane conductance. The reversal potential of the photocurrent is approximately -80 mV, and shifts in the positive direction by approximately 39 mV when the concentration of extracellular K is increased from 10 to 50 mM, consistent with the notion that light activates K-selective channels. The light-activated conductance increases with depolarization in the physiological range of membrane voltages (-30 to -70 mV). Such outward rectification is greatly reduced after removal of divalent cations from the superfusate. In Pecten, cell-attached recordings were also obtained; in some patches outwardly directed single-channel currents could be activated by light but not by voltage. The unitary conductance of these channels was approximately 26 pS. Solitary ciliary cells also gave evidence of the post stimulus rebound, which is presumably responsible for initiating the "off" discharge of action potentials at the termination of a light stimulus: in patches containing only voltage-dependent channels, light stimulation suppressed depolarization-induced activity, and was followed by a strong burst of openings, directly related to the intensity of the preceding photostimulation.

Intracellular Mg2+ increases neuronal excitability

1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Krnjević ◽  
E. Puil ◽  
R. Werman
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Spinal Motoneurons ◽  
Intracellular Ca

Injection of Mg2+into spinal motoneurons of cats leads to a depolarization, associated with a fall in membrane conductance, diminution in post-spike hyperpolarization, and increased excitability. This action has an apparent reversal level substantially more negative than the resting potential, and can be ascribed to a fall in K+ membrane conductance. Since these effects are opposite to those produced by intracellular Ca2+, it is suggested that Mg2+ probably competes with Ca2+ the Ca2+ -activated K+ ionophores. Neuronal excitability can be regulated by the ratio of internal free Ca2+/Mg2+.

scholarly journals On the effects of divalent cations and ethylene glycol-bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate on action potential duration in frog heart.

1978 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Miller ◽  
A Mörchen
Keyword(s):  
Ethylene Glycol ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Calcium Ions ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Slow Inward Current ◽  
Frog Heart

Resting and action potentials were recorded from superfused strips of frog ventricle. Reducing the bathing calcium concentration ([Ca2+]0) with or without ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA) prolongs the action potential (AP). The change in the duration of the AP extends over many minutes, but is rapidly reversed by restoring calcium ions. Other changes (e.g., in resting potential and overshoot) are, however, only more slowly reversed. Reducing [Ca2+]0 with 0.2, 2, or 5 mM EGTA produces progressively greater prolongation of AP; maximum values were well in excess of 1 min. This prolongation can be reversed by other divalent cations in EGTA (Mg2+, Sr2+) or Ca-free (Mn2+) solutions, or by acetylcholine. Barium ions increase AP duration in keeping with their known effect on potassium conductance. D600, which blocks the slow inward current in cardiac muscle, is without effect on the action potentials recorded in EGTA solutions, or on the time course and extent of the recovery to normal duration upon restoring calcium ions. It is concluded that divalent cations exert an influence on membrane potassium conductance extracellularly in frog heart. The cell membrane does not become excessively "leaky" in EGTA solutions.

Electrical properties of oxytocin neurons in organotypic cultures from postnatal rat hypothalamus

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 2772-2785 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jourdain ◽  
D. A. Poulain ◽  
D. T. Theodosis ◽  
J. M. Israel
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Properties ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Glutamate Receptors ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Firing Pattern ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Input Resistance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Organotypic Cultures ◽  
Current Pulses

1. Intracellular recordings were performed on immunocytochemically identified oxytocin (OT) neurons (n = 101) maintained for 2-7 wk in hypothalamic organotypic cultures derived from 4-to 6-day-old rat neonates. The neurons displayed a resting potential of -58.9 +/- 6.8 mV (mean +/- SD, n = 74), an input resistance of 114 +/- 26.8 M omega (n = 66), and a time constant of 9.6 +/- 1.4 ms (n = 57). Voltage-current (V-I) relations, linear at resting potential, showed a pronounced outward rectification when depolarized from hyperpolarized membrane potentials. At these hyperpolarized potentials, depolarizing current pulses induced a delayed action potential. 2. Action potentials had an amplitude of 73.4 +/- 9.7 mV and a duration of 1.9 +/- 0.2 ms. Each action potential was followed by an afterhyperpolarization of 7.9 +/- 2.0 mV in amplitude lasting 61.7 +/- 11.3 ms. The depolarizing phase of action potentials was both Na+ and Ca2+ dependent, whereas repolarization was due to a K+ conductance increase. 3. When Ba2+ was substituted for Ca2+ in the medium, OT neurons displayed prolonged sustained depolarizations. In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX), these depolarizations were triggered by depolarizing current pulses and arrested by hyperpolarizing current pulses or by local application of Ca2+, Co2+, Cd2+, No sustained depolarization was obtained when nifedipine was added to the medium. These data suggest that OT cells in organotypic culture possess L-type Ca2+ channels. 4. All OT neurons generated spontaneous action potentials at resting potential. Of 59 neurons, 29 showed a slow, irregular firing pattern (< or = 2.5 spikes/s), 24 generated a fast continuous firing pattern (> or = 2.5 spikes/s), and 6 cells displayed a bursting pattern of activity consisting of alternating periods of spike discharge and quiescence. None of the bursting cells exhibited regenerative endogenous potentials (plateau potentials). On the contrary, in four of these cells, the bursting activity was clearly due to patterned synaptic activity. 5. The cultured OT cells responded to exogenous gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and muscimol with a hyperpolarization and an increase in membrane conductance. These effects still were observed in the presence of TTX, indicating that they were due to direct activation of GABA receptors in the cells. The GABA-induced response was mediated by GABAA receptors because it was blocked by bicuculline, but not by GABAB receptors, because baclofen and hydroxysaclofen had no effect on membrane potential and input resistance. 6. OT neurons responded to exogenous glutamate, quisqualate, and kainate with a depolarization concomitant with an increase in membrane conductance. N-methyl-D-aspartate depolarized the cells in Mg(2+)-free medium. These effects were observed in the presence of TTX, suggesting that OT cells expressed ionotropic glutamate receptors. Trans-(1S,3R)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentane-dicarboxylic acid and (+/-)-alpha-amino-4-carboxymethylphenylglycine had no effect on OT cells, thus excluding the presence of metabotropic glutamate receptors. 7. Taken together, our observations demonstrate that hypothalamic slice cultures from 4- to 6-day-old rat neonates contain well-differentiated OT neurons that display electrical properties similar to those shown by adult neurons in vitro. Such cultures provide a reliable model to investigate membrane properties of adult OT neurons and a useful means to study the long-term modulation of their electrical behaviour by various agents known to affect OT cells in vivo.

Characterization of a muscarinic current that regulates excitability of an identified insect motoneuron

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 1862-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Trimmer
Keyword(s):  
Action Potentials ◽  
Acetylcholine Receptors ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential ◽  
Muscarinic Agonist ◽  
Complete Replacement ◽  
Inward Current ◽  
K Concentration

1. Application of the muscarinic agonist oxotremorine-M (oxo-M) to isolated abdominal ganglia of larval Manduca sexta excited an identified proleg retractor motoneuron called PPR. This excitation consisted of a persistent depolarization and an increased tendency to generate action potentials. Previous work has established that the action of oxo-M is probably mediated by muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) on PPR and that oxo-M mimics an afferent-induced long-lasting depolarization called the slow excitatory postsynaptic potential (sEPSP). 2. Action potentials in the ganglion could be blocked by applying tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the bath saline. Under these conditions all excitatory postsynaptic potentials in PPR were also blocked, but the depolarizing action of oxo-M was unaffected. In the absence of background activity PPR could be voltage clamped using a single-electrode switching clamp to study the currents underlying the response to oxo-M. 3. At a membrane potential of -50 mV, application of oxo-M to the ganglion in the bath saline (3-6 x 10(-7) M) or by brief (20–40 ms) pulses from a micropipette into the neuropil (1 x 10(-5) M) evoked an apparently inward current called Iox. The mean peak current change in response to pulses was -0.80 +/- 0.04 nA (n = 48 preparations). 4. The voltage dependence of Iox was determined by subtracting the current-voltage relationship for PPR in control saline from that during a response to oxo-M. Iox was maximal near the resting potential of PPR (-45 to -40 mV), decreasing slightly with hyperpolarization and strongly with depolarization. 5. Peak Iox was directly dependent on the bath Na+ concentration. Complete replacement of Na+ with N-methyl-D-glucamine in the saline blocked Iox. Changes in the bath K+ concentration (extracellular K+ concentration, [K+]o) had only a small effect on Iox. Reducing [Cl-]o from 140 to 74.5 mM had no significant effect on Iox during a 15-min exposure. Intracellular injections of Cl- from a KCl-containing electrode also had no measurable effect on Iox. 6. Changes in the bath Ca2+ concentration above or below 2 mM inhibited Iox. Furthermore, the divalent cations Ni2+, Co2+, Mg2+, and Ba2+ at millimolar concentrations and the Ca2+ channel blocking agents nifedipine and Cd2+ at micromolar concentrations inhibited Iox. 7. These results suggest that mAChRs on PPR activate an inward current that is persistent, TTX insensitive, voltage dependent and carried predominantly by Na+. However, the results cannot eliminate the possibility that changes in K+ or Cl- conductances might also be involved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Shunting Inhibition Does Not Have a Divisive Effect on Firing Rates

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1001-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary R. Holt ◽  
Christof Koch
Keyword(s):  
Firing Rate ◽  
Reversal Potential ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Shunting Inhibition ◽  
A Value ◽  
Inhibitory Conductance ◽  
Conductance Increase

Shunting inhibition, a conductance increase with a reversal potential close to the resting potential of the cell, has been shown to have a divisive effect on subthreshold excitatory postsynaptic potential amplitudes. It has therefore been assumed to have the same divisive effect on firing rates. We show that shunting inhibition actually has a subtractive effecton the firing rate in most circumstances. Averaged over several interspike intervals, the spiking mechanism effectively clamps the somatic membrane potential to a value significantly above the resting potential, so that the current through the shunting conductance is approximately independent of the firing rate. This leads to a subtractive rather than a divisive effect. In addition, at distal synapses, shunting inhibition will also have an approximately subtractive effect if the excitatory conductance is not small compared to the inhibitory conductance. Therefore regulating a cell's passive membrane conductance—for instance, via massive feedback—is not an adequate mechanism for normalizing or scaling its output.

Internal cesium ions block various K conductances in spinal motoneurons

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 1280-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Puil ◽  
R. Werman
Keyword(s):  
Action Potentials ◽  
Considerable Increase ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Membrane Properties ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Large Reduction ◽  
Spinal Motoneurons ◽  
Spike Generation ◽  
Cesium Ions ◽  
Voltage Dependent

Conventional intracellular recording with low resistance electrodes was used to examine the effects of iontophoretic injections of Cs+ ions (30–200 nA for 30–500 s) into spinal motoneurons of cats anesthetized with pentobarbital and paralyzed with gallamine. The most striking effects of internal Cs+ were a great prolongation of the falling phase of action potentials, a large reduction in the amplitude of their afterhyperpolarizations, and a considerable increase in the size of delayed depolarizations. A reduction of resting membrane conductance (up to half of control values) and a small increase in membrane potential usually were evident. Although the rate of rise and amplitude of spikes sometimes were increased, the above effects on membrane properties usually were accompanied by block of antidromic invasion or synaptic spike generation, and inactivation of directly evoked spikes. Recovery of spike genesis was very rapid but the prolongation of spikes and other effects of Cs+ lasted 4–35 min, depending on the amount of Cs+ application. Larger injections of Cs+ resulted in greater depolarizations of up to 13 mV. It is concluded that internal Cs+ ions block voltage-dependent K+ conductance of spike repolarization, the Ca2+-activated K+ conductance responsible for the afterhyperpolarization, and some of the K+ conductance responsible for the resting potential. It is suggested that the enhanced delayed depolarization may result from a Cs+-blockade of an early outward K+ current which would unmask an inward current of Ca2+ ions.

Effects of pH on excitation and contraction in frog twitch muscle

1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Foulks ◽  
Florence A. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Calcium Concentration ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Ion Concentration ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Hydrogen Ion Concentration ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Effects Of Ph

The electrical and mechanical behaviour of frog twitch muscle in response to changes in membrane potential has been examined over a wide range of hydrogen ion concentration (pH 3.0–11.0). The changes in resting and action potentials, twitches, and maximum potassium-induced contractures (K contractures) were remarkably small when the pH was varied between 5.0 and 10.0. The time course of action potentials generally displayed small graded changes with variation in pH, possibly as the result of changes in surface potential.The amplitude of twitches and maximum K contractures was substantially decreased when pH was reduced to 4.0 or raised to 11.0 without significant alteration in membrane resting potential or consistent suppression of excitation, but maximum caffeine-induced contractures were unchanged. Replacement of chloride with perchlorate promptly antagonized the depressant effects of pH extremes (4.0, 11.0) on both twitch amplitude and maximum K-contracture tension. Acid-induced reductions in maximum K-contracture tension also were partially antagonized by increased calcium concentration. The onset and recovery from the contraction-depressant effects of pH extremes were too slow to be explained by the titration of groups immediately accessible at the membrane surface but too rapid to be accounted for by changes in intracellular pH. Thus, excitation and contraction apparently were uncoupled by sufficient alteration in extracellular pH. Changes in external pH had little effect on the impairment of maximum K contractures by media lacking divalent cations, or on the restoration of such responses by perchlorate except at very alkaline pH (10.0–11.0).The threshold for K contractures was reduced at pH 11.0, but otherwise was little affected by variation in pH at normal concentrations of divalent cations. Altered pH did not modify the usual effects of increased calcium concentration on the relation between potassium concentration and K-contracture tension. When K contractures were maintained by perchlorate in the absence of divalent cations, hydrogen ions displayed calcium-like actions on the relation between external K concentration ([K]0) and K-contracture tension, and also on the time course of submaximum K contractures. These observations are compatible with similar effects of hydrogen and calcium ions on surface potential.The problem of identifying putative charged groups which might influence the linkage between contractile responses and changes in membrane potential is discussed.

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