Summary
Dispersal of the constituent cells of mammalian visceral and vascular smooth muscles has permitted recordings both of membrane currents under whole-cell voltage clamp, and of currents through single ionic channels using the patch-clamp technique. A rectangular depolarizing step applied to a single cell under voltage clamp yielded a net inward current followed by a net outward current in normal physiological solution. In isolated, ‘inside-out’ patches of cell membrane a calcium- and potential-sensitive K channel (100 pS conductance) and a calcium-insensitive, potential-sensitive K+ channel (50 pS conductance) with slow kinetics have so far been identified and characterized.
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Bolton, T.B., Lang, R.J., Takewaki, T. et al. Patch and whole-cell voltage clamp of single mammalian visceral and vascular smooth muscle cells. Experientia 41, 887–894 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01970006
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01970006