Showing papers on "Conductance published in 1984"

Conductance properties of single inwardly rectifying potassium channels in ventricular cells from guinea-pig heart.

Abstract: Single ventricular cells were enzymatically isolated from adult guinea-pig hearts (Isenberg & Klockner, 1982). The patch-clamp technique (Hamill, Marty, Neher, Sakmann & Sigworth, 1981) was used to examine the conductance properties of an inward-rectifying K+ channel present in their sarcolemmal membrane. When the K+ concentration on the extracellular side of the patch was between 10.8 and 300 mM, inward current steps were observed at potentials more negative than the K+ equilibrium potential (EK). At more positive potentials no current steps were detectable, demonstrating the strong rectification of the channel. The zero-current potential extrapolated from the voltage dependence of the inward currents depends on the external K4 concentration [K+]o in a fashion expected for a predominantly K+-selective ion channel. It is shifted by 49 mV for a tenfold change in [K+]o. The conductance of the channel depends on the square root of [K+]o. In approximately symmetrical transmembrane K+ concentrations (145 mM-external K+), the single-channel conductance is 27 pS (at 19-23 degrees C). In normal Tyrode solution (5.4 mM-external K+) we calculate a single-channel conductance of 3.6 pS. The size of inward current steps at a fixed negative membrane potential V increases with [K+]o. The relation between step size and [K+]o shows saturation. Assuming a Michaelis-Menten scheme for binding of permeating K+ to the channel, an apparent binding constant of 210 mM is calculated for a membrane potential of -100 mV. For this potential the current at saturating [K+]o is estimated as 6.5 pA. The rectification of the single-channel conductance at membrane potentials positive to EK occurs within 1.5 ms of stepping the membrane potential from a potential of high conductance to one of low conductance. In addition to the main conductance state, the channel can adopt several substates of conductance. The main state could be the result of the simultaneous opening of four conducting subunits, each of which has a conductance of about 7 pS in 145 mM-external K+. The density of the inward-rectifying K+ channels in the ventricular sarcolemma is 0-10 channel/10 micron2 of surface membrane; the average of twenty-eight patches was 1 channel/1.8 micron2. It is concluded that the inward-rectifying K+ channels mediate the resting K+ conductance of ventricular heart muscle and the current termed IK1 in conventional voltage-clamp experiments.

Ion Conductance and Selectivity of Single Calcium-activated Potassium Channels in Cultured Rat Muscle

Abstract: The conductance and selectivity of the Ca-activated K channel in cultured rat muscle was studied. Shifts in the reversal potential of single channel currents when various cations were substituted for Ki+ were used with the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation to calculate relative permeabilities. The selectivity was Tl+ greater than K+ greater than Rb+ greater than NH4+, with permeability ratios of 1.2, 1.0, 0.67, and 0.11. Na+, Li+, and Cs+ were not measurably permeant, with permeabilities less than 0.05 that of K+. Currents with the various ions were typically less than expected on the basis of the permeability ratios, which suggests that the movement of an ion through the channel was not independent of the other ions present. For a fixed activity of Ko+ (77 mM), plots of single channel conductance vs. activity of Ki+ were described by a two-barrier model with a single saturable site. This observation, plus the finding that the permeability ratios of Rb+ and NH+4 to K+ did not change with ion concentration, is consistent with a channel that can contain a maximum of one ion at any time. The empirically determined dissociation constant for the single saturable site was 100 mM, and the maximum calculated conductance for symmetrical solutions of K+ was 640 pS. TEAi+ (tetraethylammonium ion) reduced single channel current amplitude in a voltage-dependent manner. This effect was accounted for by assuming voltage-dependent block by TEA+ (apparent dissociation constant of 60 mM at 0 mV) at a site located 26% of the distance across the membrane potential, starting at the inner side. TEAo+ was much more effective in reducing single channel currents, with an apparent dissociation constant of approximately 0.3 mM.

Cation selectivity of light-sensitive conductance in retinal rods.

Abstract: Vertebrate photoreceptors respond to light by a membrane hyperpolarization which is thought to result from the decrease of a Na-selective conductance in the outer segment1–6. One hypothesis is that light increases intracellular free Ca which reversibly blocks the Na conductance7,8; at least part of this Ca is then extruded to the cell exterior by a Na–Ca exchanger at the plasma membrane9–14. We describe experiments here which show that the light-sensitive conductance in rods is also highly permeable to K. While external Na acts to keep the conductance open, external K tends to keep it closed, both actions probably involving the Na–Ca exchanger. The conductance is also permeable to the monovalent cations Li, Rb and Cs and the divalent cations Ca, Sr and Ba. The ability of both Na and K to go through the light-sensitive conductance explains the long-standing puzzle as to why the reversal potential for the light response is at 0 to +10 mV15–17.

A Ca-dependent Cl− conductance in cultured mouse spinal neurones

Abstract: Long-lasting conductance changes triggered either by brief (millisecond) electrical stimuli and/or entry of calcium ions have been observed in a variety of excitable tissues1–4. The electrical consequences of these events depend on the ion conductance affected and on the ion concentration gradient across the membrane, while the long-lasting nature of the change sustains the cell at either sub- or supra-threshold levels for activation of regenerative action potentials. We report here that many cultured mouse spinal neurones exhibit a voltage-activated chloride conductance that lasts for seconds and is dependent on extracellular calcium, [Ca2+]0. This conductance may repolarize and stabilize the cell at a level subthreshold for generating action potentials, thus complementing the functional roles of Ca-dependent K+ conductances5–8.

Rat hippocampal neurons in culture: properties of GABA-activated Cl- ion conductance

Abstract: The actions of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the membrane properties of rat hippocampal neurons maintained in dissociated cell culture were studied using intracellular recording techniques. All the neurons tested were responsive to GABA applied by pressure from micropipettes containing 10-20 microM GABA. The response consisted of a marked increase in conductance associated with a potential change. The inversion potential was sensitive to the Cl- ion gradient across the cells. It was about -60 mV when measured during recordings utilizing K acetate-filled microelectrodes, about -15 mV when measured during recordings with KCl-filled microelectrodes, and about +15 mV when measured with KCl electrodes in a medium containing low [Cl-]o. These results indicate that the membrane conductance evoked by GABA primarily involves Cl- ions. There were no apparent differences between the inversion potential of responses elicited at the level of the cell body and those evoked on processes. The two-electrode voltage-clamp technique was used to study the membrane mechanisms underlying these responses. GABA generated current responses that were associated with an increase in both conductance and membrane current variance. At a given potential both the conductance change and increase in variance were directly proportional to the amplitude of the current response. Spectral analysis of the membrane current variance evoked by GABA revealed that many of the computed spectra could be fitted by a single Lorentzian equation, suggesting that GABA activates two-state (open-closed) Cl- ion channels whose durations are exponentially distributed. The mean duration of these channel openings was estimated to be 22.9 +/- 2.1 ms, while the average conductance was estimated to be 19.8 +/- 2.7 pS in 13 cells. Large-amplitude GABA responses evoked at -70 mV frequently faded in amplitude, often by as much as 50%, with little or no change in the associated conductance. Since the membrane current variance decreased in direct relation to the fading current response, while estimates of channel lifetime did not change, the results suggest that the fading is due to a shift in the Cl- gradient. Responses to constant amounts of GABA evoked at different membrane potentials showed that the macroscopic conductance activated by GABA varied with membrane potential. Often 4-5 times more conductance was generated at depolarized (0 to +10 mV) relative to hyperpolarized potentials (-60 to -70 mV).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Effects of antidiuretic hormone on cellular conductive pathways in mouse medullary thick ascending limbs of henle. I: ADH increases transcellular conductance pathways

Abstract: This paper reports experiments designed to assess the relations between net salt absorption and transcellular routes for ion conductance in single mouse medullary thick ascending limbs of Henle microperfusedin vitro. The experimental data indicate that ADH significantly increased the transepithelial electrical conductance, and that this conductance increase could be rationalized in terms of transcellular conductance changes. A minimal estimate (G c min ) of the transcellular conductance, estimated from Ba++ blockade of apical membrane K+ channels, indicated thatG c min was approximately 30–40% of the measured transepithelial conductance. In apical membranes, K+ was the major conductive species; and ADH increased the magnitude of a Ba++-sensitive K+ conductance under conditions where net Cl− absorption was nearly abolished. In basolateral membranes, ADH increased the magnitude of a Cl− conductance; this ADH-dependent increase in basal Cl− conductance depended on a simultaneous hormone-dependent increase in the rate of net Cl− absorption. Cl− removal from luminal solutions had no detectable effect onG e , and net Cl− absorption was reduced at luminal K+ concentrations less than 5mm; thus apical Cl− entry may have been a Na+,K+,2Cl− cotransport process having a negligible conductance. The net rate of K+ secretion was approximately 10% of the net rate of Cl− absorption, while the chemical rate of net Cl− absorption was virtually equal to the equivalent short-circuit current. Thus net Cl− absorption was rheogenic; and approximately half of net Na+ absorption could be rationalized in terms of dissipative flux through the paracellular pathway. These findings, coupled with the observation that K+ was the principal conductive species in apical plasma membranes, support the view that the majority of K+ efflux from cell to lumen through the Ba++-sensitive apical K+ conductance pathway was recycled into cells by Na+,K+,2Cl− cotransport.

The cromolyn binding protein constitutes the Ca2+ channel of basophils opening upon immunological stimulus

Abstract: Ca2+ channel opening has been proposed to be induced in the plasma membrane of mast cells and basophils upon crosslinking their Fc epsilon receptors. Here we report direct conductance measurements on planar lipid bilayers containing membrane components of rat basophils (RBL-2H3 line). These studies identify the Ca2+ channel-forming membrane component as the cromolyn binding protein [CBP, in which cromolyn is the anti-asthmatic drug 1,3-bis(2-carboxy-chromon-5-yloxy)-2-hydroxypropane]. Planar membranes were first formed from lipid vesicles containing unfractionated plasma membrane components prepared from RBL-2H3 cells. Conductance of these bilayers was induced by crosslinking IgE bound to the Fc epsilon receptors of this membrane by a specific polyvalent antigen. Channel conductance in the presence of only Ca2+ ions (2 mM) was 2 pS. When only sodium ions were present (150 mM), conductance was 10 pS. Upon addition of Ca2+ (2 mM) to the Na+ ion-containing solution, the conductance decreased from 10 pS to that of the Ca2+ ions--namely, 2pS. Open channel times were in the range of several hundred milliseconds. Conductance amplitudes and time characteristics were independent of the applied voltage. As our earlier studies revealed the essential role of the CBP in Ca2+ conductance of basophil membranes, we formed planar bilayers containing this isolated protein alone. Crosslinking of the CBP by a monoclonal antibody specific to it resulted in the appearance of channel conductances. All characteristics of these channels exhibited great similarity to those observed in planar membranes containing unfractionated RBL-2H3 membrane components. Moreover, in the latter membranes, the monoclonal anti-CBP antibody induced channel conductances that display an even closer similarity to those observed in membranes containing CBP alone. Conductances of both types of planar membranes, irrespective of the mode of activation used, were inhibited by cromolyn. Furthermore, the conductance induced in RBL membranes by polyvalent antigen was inhibited on dissociation of the crosslinked aggregates by a monovalent hapten. The detailed resemblance in channel behavior observed in experiments with the two types of planar bilayers provides compelling evidence that the CBP is the essential and sufficient component forming Ca2+ channels in basophil plasma membranes.

Selectively dopedn-AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs heterostructures with high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas for field effect transistors

Abstract: In selectively dopedn-AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs heterostructures with high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2 DEG) at the heterointerface a second conductive channel exists, if the AlxGa1−xAs layer is not totally depleted from free carries. The occurrence of parallel conductance has a deleterious effect on the performance of high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) fabricated from this material. Although in principle computable, parallel conductance depends on a large number of design parameters to be chosen for the heterostructure, which are additionally affected by the presence of deep electron traps inn-AlxGa1−xAs of composition 0.25

Ionic events during the volume response of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to hypotonic media. II. Volume- and time-dependent activation and inactivation of ion transport pathways.

Abstract: Hypotonic dilution of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) induces large conductive permeabilities for K+ and Cl-, associated with the capacity of the cells to regulate their volumes. When rapid cation leakage is assured by the addition of the ionophore gramicidin, the behavior of the anion conductance pathway can be independently examined. Using this technique it is demonstrated that the volume-induced activation of Cl- transport is triggered at a threshold of approximately 1.15 X isotonic cell volume. If the volume of a cell is increased to this level or above, the Cl- transport system is activated, whereas if the volume of a swollen cell is decreased below the threshold value, the Cl- transport is inactivated. Activation and inactivation are independent of the relative volume changes and of the actual cellular Na+, K+, or Cl- concentrations, as well as of the changes in membrane potential in PBL. When net salt movement and thus volume change are inhibited by specific blockers of K+ transport (e.g., quinine, or Ca2+ depletion), volume-induced Cl- conductance shows a time-dependent inactivation, with a half-time of 5-8 min. The Cl- conductance, when activated, appears to involve an all-or-none response. In contrast, volume-induced K+ conductance is a graded response, with the increase in K+ flux being roughly proportional to the hypotonicity-induced increase in cell volume. The data indicate that during lymphocyte volume response in hypotonic media, anion conductance increases by orders of magnitude, exceeding the K+ conductance, so that the rate of the volume decrease (KCl efflux) is determined by a graded alteration in K+ conductance. When the cell volume approaches the isotonic value, it is stabilized by the inactivation of the anion conductance pathway.

Some properties of single potassium channels in cultured oligodendrocytes.

Abstract: K+ channels were studied in oligodendrocytes in cultures of mouse spinal cord. Single channel currents were measured using the gigaseal technique. The conductance of the channels varied greatly i.e. from 6 to 125 pS (38±28 SD,N=21). In some patches there were up to three current levels of the same size. At −70 mV the open state probability was 0.51±0.17 and the average duration of an opening 70±20 ms for 4 channels with conductance from 16–57 pS. These analyses exclude brief flickering (less than 2 ms) or long closed periods (seconds to minutes). These times were not markedly affected by pulling the patch off the cell or by superfusing the isolated patch with media containing 10 mmol×1−1 TEA or EGTA without Ca2+. At membrane potentials between −90 and −30 mV there was a small but consistent effect of depolarization to increase the open state probability. Large positive or negative voltage steps decreased the open state probability. Current voltage measurements on intact cells showed a striking decrease in membrane conductance at these large membrane potentials. The leakage conductance of the patch also exhibited some K+ selectivity. The oligodendrocyte membrane appears to contain about one K+ channel per 5 μm2. The known electrical properties of cultured oligodendrocytes can essentially be explained by the distribution and properties of these K+ channels.

Calcium effects on electrogenic pump and passive permeability of the plasma membrane of Chara corallina.

Abstract: Removal of Ca2+ from the medium results in depolarization of the Chara internodal cell and an increase in membrane conductance (Gm). The increase in conductance is associated with an increase in K+ conductance, as judged by Ca2+ effects on the K+ dependence of clamp current. The voltage dependence of Gm is also affected by Ca2+, as is the time course of the response of clamp current to a step change in voltage. Mg2+ restores the low conductance and the fast response to a voltage change, but not hyperpolarization at neutral pH, suggesting that there is an additional, independent effect on the electrogenic pump. The membrane does not show the normal ability to increase proton conductance at high pH in the absence of Ca2+; this is also restored by Mg2+ as well as by Ca2+.

Chloride transport in toad skin (Bufo viridis). The effect of salt adaptation

Abstract: The steady-state Cl- current across the skin of Bufo viridis adapted to tap water was found to be rectified. In skins bathed with NaCl Ringer on both sides, a large outward current, carried by influx of Cl-, was observed at a clamping voltage (V) of less than -50 mV (outside of the skin negative). for V = -50 mV the transepithelial Cl- conductance calculated from isotope flux measurements was 2.5 +/- 0.3 mS cm-2, N = 10. When the skin was clamped at + 50 mV the net flux of Cl- was reversed, but Cl- conductance was only 0.3 +/- 0.1 mScm-2. Flux ratio analysis indicated that the potential-activated Cl- conductance carries Cl- ions by way of passive transport. With NaCl Ringer bathing the outer surface of the skin the spontaneous potential was about -30 mV. At this potential the Cl- conductance of the skin was about half of its maximum value. The time course of Cl- current activation following a fast, stepwise change of V from 50 mV to a potential below O mV showed an initial delay of a few seconds, and proceeded with a halftime (T 1/2) which varied as a bell-shaped function of V. The maximum T 1/2 was about 100 s for V = -10 mV in skins exposed to KCl Ringer on the outside. Following adaptation of the toads to a 250 mM-NaCl solution, the fully activated Cl- conductance of the skin was greatly reduced, and the conductance-voltage curve was shifted to the left along the voltage-axis. With NaCl Ringer on the outside the spontaneous potential was about -20 mV, and Cl- conductance activation was possible only outside the physiological range of potentials. The time constant of Cl- conductance activation from closed to fully activated state was more than doubled following salt adaptation of the toads. The active inward Cl- flux disappeared in skins of toads adapted to a 250 mM-NaCl solution, and apparent leakage conductance was reduced. Application of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine to skin of fully salt-adapted toads increased the transepithelial Cl- conductance, and the time courses of voltage clamp currents became more like those of water-adapted toads. Apparent leakage conductance was increased.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The resting membrane parameters of human intercostal muscle at low, normal, and high extracellular potassium

Abstract: Membrane parameters at the respective resting potentials in low, normal, and high extracellular potassium solutions were determined in intercostal muscle fibers from 15 patients with no known neuromuscular disease. In synthetic interstitial fluid (normal potassium concentration 3.5 mmol/liter), we found the following mean values: resting membrane potential RP = -83.3 mV, space constant lambda = 2364 micron, fiber diameter d = 49.3 micron, fiber input resistance Rin = 795 k omega, specific membrane capacitance Cm = 4.7 muF/cm2, and specific membrane resistance Rm = 5970 omega X cm2. The specific membrane conductance was gm = 168 muS/cm2, 76% of it being chloride conductance, 24% being potassium conductance. The dependence of the membrane parameters on the extracellular potassium concentration followed the predictions by the constant field theory. There was no indication of active chloride transport. The resting membrane conductance decreased with temperature with a Q10 of 1.3. Excitability parameters were nearly independent of temperature between 37 and 27 degrees C.

Anthracene-9-carboxylic acid inhibits an apical membrane chloride conductance in canine tracheal epithelium.

Abstract: Canine tracheal epithelium secretes Cl from the submucosal to the mucosal surface via an electrogenic transport process that appears to apply to a wide variety of secretory epithelia. Cl exit across the apical membrane is thought to be a passive, electrically conductive process. To examine the cellular mechanism of Cl secretion we studied the effect of anthracene-9-carboxylic acid (9-AC), an agent known to inhibit the Cl conductance of muscle membrane. When added to the mucosal solution, 9-AC rapidly and reversibly decreases short-circuit current and transepithelial conductance, reflecting a reduction in electrogenic Cl secretion. The inhibition is concentration-dependent and 9-AC does not appear to compete with Cl for the transport process. The decrease in current and conductance results from a decrease in the net and both unidirectional transepithelial Cl fluxes without substantial alterations of Na fluxes. Furthermore, 9-AC specifically inhibits a Cl conductance: tissues bathed in Cl-free solutions showed no response to 9-AC. Likewise, when the rate of secretion and Cl conductance were minimized with indomethacin, addition of 9-AC did not alter transepithelial conductance. In contrast, neither removal of Na from the media nor blockade of the apical Na conductance with amiloride prevented a 9-AC-induced decrease in transepithelial conductance. We also found that the effect of 9-AC is independent of transepithelial transport: 9-AC decreases transepithelial conductance despite inhibition of Cl secretion with ouabain or furosemide. Intracellular electrophysiologic techniques were used to localize the effect of 9-AC to a reduction of the electrical conductance of the apical cell membrane: 9-AC hyperpolarizes the electrical potential difference across the apical membrane and decreases its relative conductance. 9-AC also prevents the characteristic changes in the cellular electrical potential profile, transepithelial conductance, and the ratio of membrane conductances produced by a reduction in mucosal bathing solution Cl concentration. These results indicate that 9-AC inhibits Cl secretion in tracheal epithelium by blocking an electrically conductive Cl exit step in the apical cell membrane. Thus, they support a cellular model of Cl secretion in which Cl leaves the cell across a Cl permeable apical membrane driven by its electrochemical gradient.

The statistics of the conductance of one-dimensional disordered chains

Abstract: The method of 'generalised transfer matrices' previously used to find the average of any power of the transmission coefficient, (tx) is applied to finding ( mod t mod y) in the cases y=0, -2, -4 . . . and Re y>1. These cases include all the integer moments of the conductance, mod t mod 2, and its reciprocal, the resistance. The conductance is the more physically important quantity and is found to have a complicated dependence on chain length. The formulae are valid for any distribution of disorder and all lengths of sample. Limiting cases and numerical results are presented. An anomaly in the energy dependence of the conductance of a binary alloy is discovered.

Non‐stationary fluctuations of the potassium conductance at the node of ranvier of the frog.

Abstract: Potassium currents were recorded from voltage-clamped nodes of isolated, myelinated axons of Rana pipiens. Nodes were maintained in a modified Ringer solution containing tetrodotoxin to block sodium current and 47.5 mM-potassium to minimize effects of extracellular potassium accumulation. Voltage protocols included depolarizing pulses lasting a few milliseconds to several seconds. Fluctuations about the ensemble average of the current were characterized in terms of non-stationary variance and autocovariance. The fluctuations had a Gaussian amplitude distribution and were virtually free of contaminations from systematic variations of the membrane current. Corrections for background noise were based on measurements done while potassium current was blocked with tetraethylammonium, and on simulations of extrinsic current fluctuations expected to arise from noise in the actual membrane voltage. The fluctuations were attributed to variations of nodal potassium conductance, since they were absent at the reversal potential of the potassium current and at membrane voltages that do not activate potassium current. Covariances indicated that voltage steps that reversed a macroscopic potassium current also reversed the sign of the fluctuation. Plots of the conductance variance versus the mean potassium conductance were generated from both the activation and deactivation (tail) phases of the potassium currents at various voltages between -80 and +70 mV. When the current was activated by a small depolarization (-50 mV) the trajectories from both phases were indistinguishable and were fitted by the parabola expected for a single population of channels with only one open-channel conductance. Apparent single-channel conductance from the early activation phase averaged 24 pS and was not significantly voltage dependent. In contrast, experiments with large depolarizations (+10 to +70 mV) gave significantly different variance--mean trajectories during activation and deactivation and these trajectories were poorly fitted by parabola. This result indicates that the fluctuations reflect several populations of channels and/or a population of channels that can have several levels of non-zero conductance. Projections of the fluctuation covariance showed long correlations, as well as the rapidly decaying component expected from the activation gating of channels. A slow fluctuation arose at a time slightly later than the rise of potassium current, spanned the entire length of brief depolarizations, and extended up to 880 ms during long depolarizations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The membrane capacity of mammalian skeletal muscle fibres

Abstract: Membrane capacity was measured as a function of fibre diameter in mammalian skeletal muscle fibres under normal conditions and under conditions designed to reduce the membrane chloride conductance, i.e. in solutions in which choride ions were replaced by sulphate or methylsulphate ions, or in normal Krebs solutions containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.5mm). The experiments were done on rat sternomastoid, extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscle fibres. The average membrane capacity of fibres in each muscle was greater than normal when chloride conductance was reduced and the slope of the relationship between membrane capacity and fibre diameter increased. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that the space constant of the transverse tubule system in mammalian fibres is normally short because the transverse tubule membrane has a high chloride conductance. The experimental results imply that the space constant of the transverse tubule system was less than 40 µm for fibres in normal Krebs solution and greater than 100 µm for fibres with low membrane chloride conductance. The space constant was calculated using measured geometrical parameters of the transverse tubule, and measured membrane conductance, and the values were close to 20 µm for fibres in normal Krebs solution and between 50 and 120 µm for fibres with low chloride conductance.

Temperature dependence of single channel currents and the peptide libration mechanism for ion transport through the gramicidin A transmembrane channel.

Abstract: A study of the temperature dependence of gramicidin A conductance of K+ in diphytanoyllecithin/n-decane membranes shows the plot of In (single channel conductance) as a function of reciprocal temperature to be nonlinear for the most probable set of conductance, states. These results are considered in terms of a series of barriers, of the dynamics of channel conformation,vis-a-vis the peptide libration mechanism, and of the effect of lipid viscosity on side chain motions again as affecting the energetics of peptide libration.

Changes in membrane ionic conductance, but not changes in slip, can account for the non‐linear dependence of the electrochemical proton gradient upon the electron‐transport rate in chromatophores

Abstract: Decrease in the rate of cyclic electron transport (JE) measured from the absorbance changes associated with reaction centre bacteriochlorophyll led to a less than proportionate decrease in the membrane potential (delta psi) measured by electrochromism. In principle this result can be explained either by a delta psi-dependent slip in the H+/e- coupling ratio (nE) or by a delta psi-dependent change in the membrane ionic conductance. Simultaneous measurement of the membrane ionic current (JDIS) did not reveal any significant changes in the H+/e- ratio (JDIS/JE) and showed that conductance changes (JDIS/delta psi) account quantitatively for the curved dependence of delta psi on JE. Simultaneous recordings of JDIS and the extravesicular pH from cresol-red absorbance changes, suggest that protons are the main current-carrying species across the chromatophore membrane at high values of delta psi in the presence and absence of Fo-ATPase inhibitor. At reduced delta psi the flux of other ions outweighs the hydrogen ion current.

Trans-Bilayer orientation and voltage-dependence of α-latrotoxin-induced channels

Abstract: α-Latrotoxin, a polypeptide and potent presynaptic neurotoxin, interacts with artificial lipid bilayers inducing a large increase of conductance, when added to one ( cis side) of the two bathing solutions. These conductance changes are due to the presence of channels which, in 0.1 m monovalent cation solution, have conductances between 100 and 400 pS. Current-voltage relations of macroscopic and single channel conductances show marked non-ohmic behaviour being reduced at positive potentials, referred to cis side as virtual ground. The decrease in conductance at high positive voltage is modulated by lipid composition and abolished by digestion with pronase of a trans -bilayer protruding domain of the protein. The results are consistent with the notion that α-latrotoxin forms channels and provide evidence that the molecule is endowed with a specific mode of insertion and orientation in lipid bilayers.

The Temperature Dependence of the Properties of Electrolyte Solutions. VI. Triple Ion Formation in Solvents of Low Permittivity Exemplified by LiBF4 Solutions in Dimethoxyethane

Abstract: Investigations in the temperature range −45 ≤ θ/°C ≤ + 25 on LiBF4 solutions in dimethoxyethane from infinite dilution to saturation permit to exemplify the features of conductance in solvents of low permittivity. Conductance measurements on thoroughly purified materials with the help of a measuring equipment known to produce precise data yield a complete set of conductance curves from infinite dilution to saturation at all temperatures of the program. The conductance curves show a minimum and a maximum of equivalent conductance and the change from positive to negative and once more to positive temperature coefficients of conductance. Various methods both for the evaluation of the limiting conductances, Λ∞, and the formation constants of ion pairs, KA, triple ions, KT, are critically discussed and reliable data for the LiBF4 solutions in dimethoxyethane at all temperatures of the program are communicated.