A new oil-gate concentration jump technique applied to inside-out patch-clamp recording

1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (4) ◽  
pp. H980-H984 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Y. Qin ◽  
A. Noma

A new method was developed to instantaneously replace the solution on the inner side of an inside-out membrane patch in order to measure time courses with which active substances acted on single ionic channels. Inside-out membrane patches were isolated from single ventricular cells of the guinea pig heart. The recording bath consisted of two chambers separated by a partition having a narrow slit. Mixing of two test solutions through this slit was prevented by filling it with paraffin oil. The pipette tip with a tightly sealed inside-out membrane patch was moved through the oil from one solution to the other so that the pipette tip was instantaneously exposed to a new solution. When the pipette tip was jumped between different K+ concentrations, the leak current through the membrane patch increased or decreased with a half time of 6.3 +/- 3.0 ms (n = 15). The amplitude of single K+ channel currents changed to a new steady level within approximately 20 ms. These time courses were well explained by diffusion of K+ in the dead space between the pipette tip opening and the membrane patch. An application of this method to the ATP-regulated K+ channel revealed a latent period of 1-2 s before the channel started its activity after the instantaneous removal of ATP, whereas no obvious latency was observed in the rapid suppression of the channel, which was completed in 100-300 ms after reapplying ATP.

1989 ◽  
Vol 257 (5) ◽  
pp. H1624-H1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Y. Qin ◽  
M. Takano ◽  
A. Noma

Kinetics for gating the ATP-sensitive K+ channel was studied by exposing the inside-out patch to instantaneous changes in the intracellular concentration of ATP ( [ATP]i) using the oil-gate concentration jump technique in guinea pig ventricular cells. The closing time course of the channel after increasing [ATP]i was exponential with a time constant (tau), which decreased with increasing [ATP]i. The linear 1/tau - [ATP]i relation revealed two different binding (closing) rate constants (mu) of 51.7 and 5.6 mM-1.s-1 and predicted a common unbinding (opening) rate constant (lambda) of 3.2 s-1. A variable latent period was observed before channel opening when [ATP]i was decreased. The mechanism of latency is not clear. Once the channel started to open at the change lowering [ATP]i, the opening time course was exponential. Measurements of the exponential tau obtained at 0 mM [ATP]i were divided into two groups with corresponding lambda of 2.8 and 20.1 s-1, respectively. The former agrees with the predicted value of 3.2 s-1, but in the latter case, tau for opening increased as [ATP]i was increased. This increase in tau was attributed to a decrease of lambda, which approached an asymptotic value of 3.2 s-1. We conclude that binding and unbinding of one molecule of ATP determine the gating of ATP-sensitive K+ channel. Different pairs of mu and lambda result in four types of gating patterns and practically two states of sensitivities to ATP.


2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 806-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Vasilyev ◽  
Thomas L. Merrill ◽  
Mark R. Bowlby

Efforts to develop novelmethods for recording from ion channels have been receiving increased attention in recent years. In this study, the authors report a unique “inside-out” whole-cell configuration of patch-clamp recording that has been developed. This method entails adding cells into a standard patch pipette and, with positive pressure, obtaining a gigaseal recording from a cell at the inside tip of the electrode. In this configuration, the cellmay be moved through the air, first rupturing part of the cellularmembrane and enabling bath access to the intracellular side of the membrane, and then into a series of wells containing differing solutions, enabling robotic control of all the steps in an experiment. The robotic system developed here fully automates the electrophysiological experiments, including gigaseal formation, obtaining whole-cell configuration, data acquisition, and drug application. Proof-of-principle experiments consisting of application of intracellularly acting potassium channel blockers to K+ channel cell lines resulted in a very rapid block, aswell as block reversal, of the current. This technique allows compound application directly to the intracellular side of ion channels and enables the dissociation of compound inactivities due to cellular barrier limitations. This technique should allow for parallel implementation of recording pipettes and the future development of larger array-based screening methods.


1992 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Cummings ◽  
S C Kinnamon

The apically restricted, voltage-dependent K+ conductance of Necturus taste receptor cells was studied using cell-attached, inside-out and outside-out configurations of the patch-clamp recording technique. Patches from the apical membrane typically contained many channels with unitary conductances ranging from 30 to 175 pS in symmetrical K+ solutions. Channel density was so high that unitary currents could be resolved only at negative voltages; at positive voltages patch recordings resembled whole-cell recordings. These multi-channel patches had a small but significant resting conductance that was strongly activated by depolarization. Patch current was highly K+ selective, with a PK/PNa ratio of 28. Patches containing single K+ channels were obtained by allowing the apical membrane to redistribute into the basolateral membrane with time. Two types of K+ channels were observed in isolation. Ca(2+)-dependent channels of large conductance (135-175 pS) were activated in cell-attached patches by strong depolarization, with a half-activation voltage of approximately -10 mV. An ATP-blocked K+ channel of 100 pS was activated in cell-attached patches by weak depolarization, with a half-activation voltage of approximately -47 mV. All apical K+ channels were blocked by the sour taste stimulus citric acid directly applied to outside-out and perfused cell-attached patches. The bitter stimulus quinine also blocked all channels when applied directly by altering channel gating to reduce the open probability. When quinine was applied extracellularly only to the membrane outside the patch pipette and also to inside-out patches, it produced a flickery block. Thus, sour and bitter taste stimuli appear to block the same apical K+ channels via different mechanisms to produce depolarizing receptor potentials.


1989 ◽  
Vol 257 (6) ◽  
pp. H2092-H2096 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Arena ◽  
R. S. Kass

We have investigated the effects of pinacidil on channel activity recorded from inside-out patches of membrane excised from guinea pig ventricular cells. If the cytosolic ATP concentration is greater than 0 but less than 500 microM, pinacidil increases the activity of a channel identified as the ATP-sensitive K channel (IKATP) by its single-channel conductance, its inhibition by ATP, and its sensitivity to glybenclamide. When ATP is greater than 3.0 mM the effects of pinacidil are inhibited. Our experiments show that pinacidil enhances the activity of IKATP in heart cells, but that the action of the drug depends on the ATP concentration of the cytosolic solutions. The results suggest that pinacidil acts indirectly, perhaps at an ATP-binding site that regulates this channel.


1993 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
W M Kwok ◽  
R S Kass

We have investigated the interactions between extracellular divalent cations and the ATP-sensitive potassium channel in single guinea pig ventricular cells and found that, under whole-cell patch clamp recording conditions, extracellularly applied Co2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ block current through the ATP-sensitive K channel (IKATP). The respective Kd's for block of IKATP by Cd2+ and Zn2+ are 28 and 0.46 microM. The Kd for Co2+ is > 200 microM. Extracellular Ca2+ and Mg2+ appear to have no effect at concentrations up to 1 and 2 mM, respectively. Block of IKATP by extracellular cations is not voltage dependent, and both onset and recovery from block occur within seconds. Single-channel experiments using the inside-out patch configuration show that internally applied Cd2+ and Zn2+ are not effective blockers of IKATP. Experiments in the outside-out patch configuration confirm that the divalent cations interact directly with IKATP channel activity. Our study also shows that this block of IKATP is dependent on intracellular ATP concentrations. Under whole-cell conditions, when cells are dialyzed with [ATP]pipette = 0, the degree of cation block is reduced. This dependence on intracellular ATP was confirmed at the single-channel level by experiments in excised, inside-out patch configurations. Our results show that some, but not all, divalent cations inhibit current through IKATP channels by binding to sites that are not within the transmembrane electric field, but are on the extracellular membrane surface. The interdependence of internal ATP and external divalent cation binding is consistent with an allosteric interaction between two binding sites and is highly suggestive of a modulatory mechanism involving conformational change of the channel protein.


1990 ◽  
Vol 258 (1) ◽  
pp. H45-H50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Takano ◽  
D. Y. Qin ◽  
A. Noma

ATP-dependent decay and recovery of the inward rectifier and ATP-sensitive K+ channels were investigated using inside-out patch recording in cardiac myocytes. The solution facing the inner side of the membrane was instantaneously changed with the oil-gate concentration jump method. Both channels were decayed by removing ATP and were recovered by reapplying ATP. The coexistence of Mg2+ was required for the recovery. 5'-Adenylylimidodiphosphate failed to reverse the ATP-dependent decay. The cumulative histograms of survival time and recovery time, obtained from the inward rectifier K+ channel, showed a single exponential distribution, time constants of which were 55 and 43 s, respectively. The time-dependent nature of decay and recovery was also confirmed in the ATP-sensitive K+ channel. The findings indicated that intracellular ATP is one of the factors that determines the activity of the K+ channels. It is most probable that phosphorylation of channel molecules is essential for maintaining the K+ channel in an operative state.


1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
M. Gollasch ◽  
T. Kleppisch ◽  
D. Krautwurst ◽  
D. Lewinsohn ◽  
J. Hescheler

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) inhibits single inwardly rectifying K+channels in guinea-pig ventricular cells. There is currently little information as to the mechanism by which these channels are modulated. The effect of PAF on quasi steady-state inwardly rectifying K+currents (presumably of the IK1type) of auricular, atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes from guinea-pig were studied. Applying the patch-clamp technique in the whole-cell configuration, PAF (10 nM) reduced the K+currents in all three cell types. The inhibitory effect of PAF occurred within seconds and was reversible upon wash-out. It was almost completely abolished by the PAF receptor antagonist BN 50730. Intracellular infusion of atrial cells with guanine 5′-(β-thio)diphosphate (GDPS) or pretreatment of cells with pertussis toxin abolished the PAF dependent reduction of the currents. Neither extracellularly applied isoproterenol nor intracellularly applied adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) attenuated the PAF effect. In multicellular preparations of auricles, PAF (10 nM) induced arrhythmias. The arrhythmogenic activity was also reduced by BN 50730. The data indicate that activated PAF receptors inhibit inwardly rectifying K+currents via a pertussis toxin sensitive G-protein without involvement of a cyclic AMP-dependent step. Since IK1is a major component in stabilizing the resting membrane potential, the observed inhibition of this type of channel could play an important role in PAF dependent arrhythmogenesis in guinea-pig heart.


1998 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izumi Sugihara

Effects of internal Sr2+ on the activity of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels were studied in inside-out membrane patches from goldfish saccular hair cells. Sr2+ was approximately one-fourth as potent as Ca2+ in activating these channels. Although the Hill coefficient for Sr2+ was smaller than that for Ca2+, maximum open-state probability, voltage dependence, steady state gating kinetics, and time courses of activation and deactivation of the channel were very similar under the presence of equipotent concentrations of Ca2+ and Sr2+. This suggests that voltage-dependent activation is partially independent of the ligand. Internal Sr2+ at higher concentrations (>100 μM) produced fast and slow blockade both concentration and voltage dependently. The reduction in single-channel amplitude (fast blockade) could be fitted with a modified Woodhull equation that incorporated the Hill coefficient. The dissociation constant at 0 mV, the Hill coefficient, and zd (a product of the charge of the blocking ion and the fraction of the voltage difference at the binding site from the inside) in this equation were 58–209 mM, 0.69–0.75, 0.45–0.51, respectively (n = 4). Long shut events (slow blockade) produced by Sr2+ lasted ∼10–200 ms and could be fitted with single-exponential curves (time constant, τl−s) in shut-time histograms. Durations of burst events, periods intercalated by long shut events, could also be fitted with single exponentials (time constant, τb). A significant decrease in τb and no large changes in τl−s were observed with increased Sr2+ concentration and voltage. These findings on slow blockade could be approximated by a model in which single Sr2+ ions bind to a blocking site within the channel pore beyond the energy barrier from the inside, as proposed for Ba2+ blockade. The dissociation constant at 0 mV and zd in the Woodhull equation for this model were 36–150 mM and 1–1.8, respectively (n = 3).


1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Ribalet ◽  
S Ciani ◽  
G T Eddlestone

The single-channel recording technique was employed to investigate the mechanism conferring ATP sensitivity to a metabolite-sensitive K channel in insulin-secreting cells. ATP stimulated channel activity in the 0-10 microM range, but depressed it at higher concentrations. In inside-out patches, addition of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor (PKI) reduced channel activity, suggesting that the stimulatory effect of ATP occurs via cAMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation. Raising ATP between 10 and 500 microM in the presence of exogenous PKI progressively reduced the channel activity; it is proposed that this inactivation results from a reduction in kinase activity owing to an ATP-dependent binding of PKI or a protein with similar inhibitory properties to the kinase. A model describing the effects of ATP was developed, incorporating these two separate roles for the nucleotide. Assuming that the efficacy of ATP in controlling the channel activity depends upon the relative concentrations of inhibitor and catalytic subunit associated with the membrane, our model predicts that the channel sensitivity to ATP will vary when the ratio of these two modulators is altered. Based upon this, it is shown that the apparent discrepancy existing between the sensitivity of the channel to low ATP concentrations in the excised patch and the elevated intracellular level of ATP may be explained by postulating a change in the inhibitor/kinase ratio from 1:1 to 3:2 owing to the loss of protein kinase after patch excision. At a low concentration of ATP (10-20 microM), a nonhydrolyzable ATP analogue, AMP-PNP, enhanced the channel activity when present below 10 microM, whereas the analogue blocked the channel activity at higher concentrations. It is postulated that AMP-PNP inhibits the formation of the kinase-inhibitor complex in the former case, and prevents phosphate transfer in the latter. A similar mechanism would explain the interaction between ATP and ADP which is characterized by enhanced activity at low ADP concentrations and blocking at higher concentrations.


1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 985-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sontheimer ◽  
J. A. Black ◽  
B. R. Ransom ◽  
S. G. Waxman

1. Na+ and K+ channel expression was studied in cultured astrocytes derived from P--0 rat spinal cord using whole cell patch-clamp recording techniques. Two subtypes of astrocytes, pancake and stellate, were differentiated morphologically. Both astrocyte types showed Na+ channels and up to three forms of K+ channels at certain stages of in vitro development. 2. Both astrocyte types showed pronounced K+ currents immediately after plating. Stellate but not pancake astrocytes additionally showed tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive inward Na+ currents, which displayed properties similar to neuronal Na+ currents. 3. Within 4-5 days in vitro (DIV), pancake astrocytes lost K(+)-current expression almost completely, but acquired Na+ currents in high densities (estimated channel density approximately 2-8 channels/microns2). Na+ channel expression in these astrocytes is approximately 10- to 100-fold higher than previously reported for glial cells. Concomitant with the loss of K+ channels, pancake astrocytes showed significantly depolarized membrane potentials (-28.1 +/- 15.4 mV, mean +/- SD), compared with stellate astrocytes (-62.5 +/- 11.9 mV, mean +/- SD). 4. Pancake astrocytes were capable of generating action-potential (AP)-like responses under current clamp, when clamp potential was more negative than resting potential. Both depolarizing and hyperpolarizing current injections elicited overshooting responses, provided that cells were current clamped to membrane potentials more negative than -70 mV. Anode-break spikes were evoked by large hyperpolarizations (less than -150 mV). AP-like responses in these hyperpolarized astrocytes showed a time course similar to neuronal APs under conditions of low K+ conductance. 5. In stellate astrocytes, AP-like responses were not observed, because the K+ conductance always exceeded Na+ conductance by at least a factor of 3. Thus stellate spinal cord astrocyte membranes are stabilized close to EK as previously reported for hippocampal astrocytes. 6. It is concluded that spinal cord pancake astrocytes are capable of synthesizing Na+ channels at densities that can, under some conditions, support electrogenesis. In vivo, however, AP-like responses are unlikely to occur because the cells' resting potential is too depolarized to allow current activation. Thus the absence of electrogenesis in astrocytes may be explained by two mechanisms: 1) a low Na-to-K conductance ratio, as in stellate spinal cord astrocytes and in other previously studied astrocyte preparations; or, 2) as described in detail in the companion paper, a mismatch between the h infinity curve and resting potential, which results in Na+ current inactivation in spinal cord pancake astrocytes.


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