The influence of "nonmyoplasmic" sodium on the measured value of the sodium efflux from barnacle muscle.
In single striated muscle cells of the giant barnacle Balanus nubilus, the sodium content of the myoplasm was measured with an intracellular microelectrode, and the total sodium content of the cell was measured by flame photometry, during immersion of the cells in sodium-free solution. The sodium content of the myoplasm declined slowly but steadily from ca. 10 mmol/kg water to ca. 4 mmol/kg water during immersions lasting up to 16 h. The "nonmyoplasmic" sodium content of the cells, defined as the sodium content after subtraction of the sodium in the extracellular (sorbitol) space and in the myoplasm, declined rapidly from ca. 15 mmol/kg water to ca. 3 mmol/kg water during the first 30 min of immersion in sodium-free solution, but remained constant thereafter. The rapidly lost portion of the nonmyoplasmic sodium (ca. 123 mmol/kg water) was ascribed to the extracellular space but the location of the inexchangeable portion was not discovered. The behavior of the efflux of 22Na which was loaded into the myoplasm by microinjection was consistent with this interpretation. It was concluded that the nonmyoplasmic sodium does not have an appreciable influence on the measured value of the sodium efflux from the myoplasm of barnacle muscle cells.
D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000187:drug effects; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism*; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001468:Thoracica / Q000378:metabolism*
D012964:Sodium