Abstract
The permeability of cell membranes to Ca2+ ions is of great importance for a variety of cellular functions such as secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones, or contractile activation of heart cells. In several cell types including cardiac muscle, Ca2+ channels are gated by membrane potential and regulated by neurotransmitters1–3. We have used the patch clamp technique4 in order to obtain information about the properties of single Ca channels in cultured heart cells. With Ba2+ carrying the inward current the single channel slope conductance is about 25 pS, and the probability of channel opening increases markedly with voltage. The channels become inactivated over a membrane potential range of about 60 mV. The mean channel open time is about 1 ms at 25 °C. However, a second much slower clustering behaviour primarily determines the slow activation time course of averaged currents. Isoprenaline does not affect single channel conductance, but seems to lengthen the mean open time and to decrease intervals between bursts.
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Reuter, H., Stevens, C., Tsien, R. et al. Properties of single calcium channels in cardiac cell culture. Nature 297, 501–504 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/297501a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/297501a0
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