Potassium homoeostasis in the heart was studied during atrial pacing in 20 patients undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography. The potassium concentrations in the coronary sinus and a systemic artery were recorded continuously by means of catheter tip potassium electrodes. Ten patients with coronary artery disease and a positive exercise test developed chest pain and ST segment depression on t...

We have used the 2-electrode voltage-clamp technique to analyze the effects of the neuropeptide, egg-laying hormone (ELH), and the biogenic amine 5-HT on ionic currents in the buccal motoneuron B16 of Aplysia. When B16 is voltage-clamped near resting membrane potential, bath-applied ELH induces a prolonged inward shift in holding current. The ELH-induced inward current is not due to a decrease ...

Mitochondria regulate intracellular calcium (Ca ) signals in smooth muscle cells, but mechanisms mediating these effects, and the functional relevance, are poorly understood. Similarly, antihypertensive ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel openers (KCOs) activate plasma membrane KATP channels and depolarize mitochondria in several cell types, but the contribution of each of these mechanisms t...

Arterial smooth muscle cell large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated potassium (K(Ca)) channels have been implicated in modulating hypoxic dilation of systemic arteries, although this is controversial. K(Ca) channel activity in arterial smooth muscle cells is controlled by localized intracellular Ca(2+) transients, termed Ca(2+) sparks, but hypoxic regulation of Ca(2+) sparks and K(Ca) channel activa...

BACKGROUND Pinacidil is known to augment a time-independent outward current in cardiac tissues by activating the ATP-regulated potassium channels. Activation of this current, IK-ATP, is thought to be responsible for increased potassium permeability in ischemia. The contribution of IK-ATP activation to arrhythmogenesis and the role of activation of this current in suppression of arrhythmias are ...

The two pyloric dilator (PD) neurons are components [along with the anterior burster (AB) neuron] of the pacemaker group of the pyloric network in the stomatogastric ganglion of the spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus. Dopamine (DA) modifies the motor pattern generated by the pyloric network, in part by exciting or inhibiting different neurons. DA inhibits the PD neuron by hyperpolarizing it an...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the behavior of fractional excretion of potassium in the course of acute kidney injury in critically ill patients. METHODS As part of a larger study in which we have evaluated blood and urinary parameters in the course of acute kidney injury, 168 patients were included. Blood and urine samples were collected daily until the removal of the urinary catheter or the initiati...

Early leak current, i.e. for times similar to the time to peak of the transient current was measured in Myxieola giant axons in the presence of tetrodotoxin. The leak current-voltage relation rectifies, showing more current for strong depolarizing pulses than expected from symmetry around the holding potential. A satisfactory practical approximation for most leak corrections is constant resting...