title: Voltage-gated and Ca2+-activated conductances mediating and controlling graded electrical activity in crayfish muscle.
abstract: Crayfish opener muscle fibers provide a unique preparation to quantitatively evaluate the relationships between the voltage-gated Ca2+ (ICa) and Ca2+-activated K+ (IK(Ca)) currents underlying the graded action potentials (GAPs) that typify these fibers. ICa, IK(Ca), and the voltage-gated K+ current (IK) were studied using two-electrode voltage-clamp applying voltage commands that simulated the GAPs evoked in current-clamp conditions by 60-ms current pulses. This methodology, unlike traditional voltage-clamp step commands, provides a description of the dynamic aspects of the interaction between different conductances participating in the generation of the natural GAP. The initial depolarizing phase of the GAP was due to activation of the ICa on depolarization above approximately -40 mV. The resulting Ca2+ inflow induced the activation of the fast IK(Ca) (<3 ms), which rapidly repolarized the fiber (<6 ms). Because of its relatively slow activation, the contribution of IK to the GAP repolarization was delayed. During the final steady GAP depolarization ICa and IK(Ca) were simultaneously activated with similar magnitudes, whereas IK aided in the control of the delayed sustained response. The larger GAPs evoked by higher intensity stimulations were due to the increase in ICa. The resulting larger Ca2+ inflow increased IK(Ca), which acted as a negative feedback that precisely controlled the fiber's depolarization. Hence IK(Ca) regulated the Ca2+-inflow needed for the contraction and controlled the depolarization that this Ca2+ inflow would otherwise elicit.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, E-28002 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Araque
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchand
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Buño
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D003400:Astacoidea / Q000502:physiology; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D018999:Charybdotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004533:Egtazic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D015640:Ion Channel Gating / Q000502:physiology; D017136:Ion Transport; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D002614:Chelating Agents; D015221:Potassium Channels; C087375:charybdotoxin receptor; D018999:Charybdotoxin; D004533:Egtazic Acid; C025603:1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid; D002118:Calcium