title: "Sleepy" inward rectifier channels in guinea-pig cardiomyocytes are activated only during strong hyperpolarization.
abstract: K(+) channels of isolated guinea-pig cardiomyocytes were studied using the patch-clamp technique. At transmembrane potentials between -120 and -220 mV we observed inward currents through an apparently novel channel. The novel channel was strongly rectifying, no outward currents could be recorded. Between -200 and -160 mV it had a slope conductance of 42.8 +/- 3.0 pS (S.D.; n = 96). The open probability (P(o)) showed a sigmoid voltage dependence and reached a maximum of 0.93 at -200 mV, half-maximal activation was approximately -150 mV. The voltage dependence of P(o) was not affected by application of 50 microM isoproterenol. The open-time distribution could be described by a single exponential function, the mean open time ranged between 73.5 ms at -220 mV and 1.4 ms at -160 mV. At least two exponential components were required to fit the closed time distribution. Experiments with different external Na(+), K(+) and Cl(-) concentrations suggested that the novel channel is K(+) selective. Extracellular Ba(2+) ions gave rise to a voltage-dependent reduction in P(o) by inducing long closed states; Cs(+) markedly reduced mean open time at -200 mV. In cell-attached recordings the novel channel frequently converted to a classical inward rectifier channel, and vice versa. This conversion was not voltage dependent. After excision of the patch, the novel channel always converted to a classical inward rectifier channel within 0-3 min. This conversion was not affected by intracellular Mg(2+), phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate or spermine. Taken together, our findings suggest that the novel K(+) channel represents a different "mode" of the classical inward rectifier channel in which opening occurs only at very negative potentials.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Normale und Pathologische Physiologie, Universität Marburg, Deutschhausstrasse 2, D-35037 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Gong Xin
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daut
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001464:Barium / Q000494:pharmacology; D002586:Cesium / Q000494:pharmacology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007545:Isoproterenol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D024661:Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D024661:Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying; D002586:Cesium; D001464:Barium; D007545:Isoproterenol