Synthetic lipid membranes can display channel-like ion conduction events even in the absence of proteins. We show here that these events are voltage-gated with a quadratic voltage dependence as expected from electrostatic theory of capacitors. To this end, we recorded channel traces and current histograms in patch-experiments on lipid membranes. We derived a theoretical current-voltage relation...

AIM To study the effects of tetrandrine (Tet) on the changes of NMDA receptor channels in cortical neurons induced by anoxia. METHODS Cell-attached configuration of patch-clamp techniques. Anoxia was produced by perfused cells with 95% N2 + 5% CO2 gassed bath solution. RESULTS During anoxia, the open time constant (tau 2), open probability (Po) of 35-pS and 100-pS channels increased. Tet 7....

The activity of apical membrane Na channels in the rat cortical collecting tubule was studied during manipulation of the animals' mineralocorticoid status in vivo using a low-Na diet or the diuretic furosemide. Tubules were isolated and split open to expose the luminal membrane surface. Induction of Na channel activity was studied in cell-attached patches of the split tubules. No activity was o...

Patch clamp of the outer nuclear membrane of isolated Xenopus oocyte nucleus was used to measure the single-channel properties of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor (IP3R). The observed channel was activated by IP3, inhibited by heparin, and Ca(2+)-selective, with ion permeabilities PCa:PK:PCl = 8:1:0.05. In symmetric KCl buffer, the channel was ohmic (113 picosiemens in 140 mM KCl...

Realistic estimates of channel-gating parameters of synaptic receptors are essential to an understanding of synaptic transmission and modulation. However, the gating of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) channels appears to differ, depending on recording conditions; thus, it remains unclear what measurements are most relevant to synaptic receptors. To further explore this discrepancy, we examined the ...

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 sp...

The kinetic properties of tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S) and tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) Na' channels in acutely dissociated neonatal rat trigeminal ganglion neurons were studied using whole-cell and cell-attached patch-clamp recordings. The time course of TTX-R currents was slower than that of TTX-S currents. Compared with TTX-S currents, TTX-R currents had more positive half-activation and...

Conformational dynamics plays a critical role in the activation, deactivation, and open-close activities of ion channels in living cells. Such conformational dynamics is often inhomogeneous and extremely difficult to be directly characterized by ensemble-averaged spectroscopic imaging or only by single channel patch-clamp electric recording methods. We have developed a new and combined technica...

White light (25 watts per square meter) induced an increase in plasma membrane K(+)-channel activity and a 30- to 70-millivolt transient membrane depolarization (completed in 2-3 minutes) in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf mesophyll cells. Transport characteristics of three types of ion channels in the plasma membrane were determined using inside-out patches. With 220 millimolar K(+) on the cytoplasm...