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Notes: Summary 1.Various drugs were applied intravenously or into the fourth ventricle and their effects upon the inhibition exerted by Purkinje cell axons were appraised by both extra- and intracellular recording from Deiters neurones. Strychnine, picrotoxin, pentamethylenetetrazol, β-methyl-β-ethylglutarimide, noradrenaline, dopamine, dibenamine and nethalide did not affect this inhibition. 2.γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and inhibitors of GABA transaminase were applied iontophoretically into the vicinity of Deiters neurones through an outer barrel of coaxial electrodes, the effects being observed either intra- or extracellularly through an inner barrel. 3. GABA depressed both inhibitory and excitatory postsynaptic potentials and often blocked the spike potentials, while it increased the membrane conductance. 4. GABA also produced a membrane hyperpolarization of 3–8 mV. Concomitantly both the spike potential and after-depolarization increased in amplitude and the after-hyperpolarization decreased. 5. In a few cases hydroxylamine but not amino-oxyacetic acid potentiated the inhibition, there being an increase in the inhibitory postsynaptic potentials thereby induced. 6. These effects were considered in connection with the possibility that GABA acts as a natural transmitter.

Notes: Summary Intracellular recording with microelectrodes has been employed to reveal the causal relationship between the trans-synaptic activation of cerebellar Purkinje cells and the postsynaptic inhibition of Deiters neurones. Cerebellar stimulation produced in Deiters neurones not only monosynaptic IPSPs with latency of 0.9–1.5 msec, but also the delayed IPSPs at 1.5–9 msec. Correspondng to the latter, Purkinje cells were found to be activated orthodromically with the characteristic climbing fibre responses (CFRs), the latency varying from 0.8 up to 10 msec. On the other hand, stimulation of the inferior olive first induced EPSPs in Deiters neurones, presumably monosynaptically, then with a short delay of less than a millisecond CRFs in Purkinje cells of the anterior lobe, which in turn were succeeded by IPSPs in Deiters neurones after a further delay of a millisecond. Spinal stimulation activated the inferior olive trans-synaptically and thereby produced CFRs in Purkinje cells and a sequence of EPSPs and IPSPs in Deiters neurones. Close correlation between these spinal-induced events in both neurone species was further indicated by the concurrence of their fluctuations in intensity, these fluctuations being characteristic of the spino-olivary transmission mechanism. These results strongly support the postulate that the cerebellar Purkinje cells are inhibitory in their action upon Deiters neurones.

Notes: Summary Sr action potentials elicited in guinea-pig papillary muscle under Na-free conditions decreased the space constant and increased the input resistance. It suggests that Sr current induced intercellular uncoupling by increasing [Sr]i.

Notes: Abstract Elementary Ca2+ and Ba2+ currents were recorded from cell-attached membrane patches of ventricular myocytes from adult guinea pig hearts using the improved patch-clamp technique (Hamill et al. 1981). High concentrations of Ba2+ or Ca2+ (50 or 90 mM) were used in the pipettes to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. All data were derived from elementary current analyses in patches containing only one channel. 1) In response to voltage steps, channel openings occurred singly or in bursts of closely spaced unitary current pulses separated by wider shut intervals. During depolarizations of small amplitude from the resting potential, channel openings occurred almost randomly, whereas during larger depolarizations the events were grouped preferentially at the beginning. 2) Channel openings became more probable with increased depolarization; simultaneously, unitary current amplitudes declined in an ohmic manner. Elementary current amplitudes were slightly larger, when 50 mM Ba2+ replaced 50 mM Ca2+ in the pipettes (slope conductances 9 and 10 pS, respectively), but more than doubled, when Ba2+ was increased to 90 mM (slope conductance 18 pS). Clear outward currents through Ca2+ channels were not observed under these conditions. 3) Peak amplitudes of reconstructed mean currents doubled when 50 mM Ba2+ replaced 50 mM Ca2+ and were larger still when 90 mM Ba2+ was used in the pipettes. The current-volrage relations of the reconstructed mean currents showed a positive shift along the voltage axis as Ba2+ was increased or substituted equimolarly by Ca2+. Correspondingly, the open state probability-voltage relations (activation curves) showed a parallel shift as Ba2+ was increased, which was less pronounced when Ba2+ was replaced equimolarly by Ca2+. 4) Determination of Ca2+ channel inactivation using 90 mM Ba2+ in the pipettes indicated an overlap with channel activation in a limited voltage range, resulting in a steadystate “window” current. Inactivation can occur without divalent cation influx. 5) Formation of an inside-out patch resulted in a fast rundown of elementary Ca2+ channel currents. 6) Channel openings were often grouped in bursts. The lifetimes of the open state, the bursts, and the closed states were estimated for Ba2+ and Ca2+ as permeating ions. At least two exponentials were needed to fit the histogram of the lifetimes of all closed states. The lifetimes of the individual openings and bursts were mono-exponentially distributed. The kinetics of the Ca+ channel depended on the voltage and the permeating ion. During +30 mV depolarizations, no significant effect of the permeating ion on channel gating could be detected. The significant increase in burst length (t b) during +50 mV depolarizations, however, seemed to be only due to an increase in the lifetime of the open state (t o) for Ba2+, whereas for Ca2+,t o was only moderately prolonged but simultaneously, the number of openings per burst increased. 7) A three-state sequential scheme is peoposed to model the activation pathway of Ca2+ channels. The latency-to-first-event histogram is also consistent with a process in which multiple closed states precede the open state.

Notes: Abstract The aminoglycoside antibiotic, gentamicin (GM), depressed the plateau phase and shortened the duration of the action potential in guinea pig papillary muscle. Its effect on the membrane currents was studied by a single sucrose gap voltage clamp method. The slow inward current (is) was remarkably diminished by GM with little change in its time course, in the voltage-dependency of the steady-state inactivation and activation or in its reversal potential. The maximal amplitude of is, obtained by subtracting the Co2+-resistant current, was reduced to 57% by 0.1 mmol/l GM and almost reduced to zero by 1 mmol/l GM. The efficacy of GM in inhibiting is was reduced by increasing the external Ca2+ concentration from 1.8 to 5.4 or 10.8 mmol/l, but not by the application of adrenaline. The time-dependent outward current (iK) was also decreased by GM but only at higher concentrations. It is proposed that the depressant action of GM on is was due to a blockade of slow channels, whereby GM may have dislocated Ca from the binding sites at slow channels on the external surface of the membrane.

Notes: Summary The membrane potential in guinea-pig's papillary muscles was recorded either by a sucrose-gap method or by an intracellular microelectrode. External application of tetraethylammonium ion (TEA) in a concentration of 20 mM did not induce any appreciable effect on the action potential. However, when TEA was applied to the inside of muscle fibers by diffusion from the cut end in the potential pool, action potentials elicited in normal Tyrode's after the healing-over were prolonged. The duration of the action potential at 90% repolarization increased by a factor of up to 1.6. The dose-response relationship suggests the formation of a complex between TEA and a receptor with a dissociation constant of 2 mM. Similar prolongations developped gradually when TEA was made to diffuse from the cut end in the current pool filled with 142 mM-TEA. In conclusion, TEA caused the prolongation of the action potential acting from the inside of the membrane in guinea-pig's myocardium. The prolongation induced by TEA suggests that outward potassium current accelerates the repolarization in the normal cardiac muscle.

Notes: Summary The membrane potential in guinea-pig's papillary muscles from right ventricle was recorded by glass microelectrodes and stimulation was effected by current pulses applied through a sucrose-gap. Action potentials with overshoot were recorded in the solution lacking Na+ and Ca++ but containing 2–95 mM Mn++. The overshoot was inecease with the increased of [Mn++]o by about 30 mV/decade. Similar Mn++-dependent action potentials were also obtained in Na-free solution containing 0.6 mM Ca++. The results indicate that Mn inward current is sufficient to generate action potentials in cardiac muscle.