PMID: 7519261Apr 1, 1994Paper

Ion permeation properties of the glutamate receptor channel in cultured embryonic Drosophila myotubes

The Journal of Physiology
H ChangY Kidokoro

Abstract

Ion permeation properties of the glutamate receptor channel in cultured myotubes of Drosophila embryos were studied using the inside-out configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Lowering the NaCl concentration in the bath (intracellular solution), while maintaining that of the external solution constant, caused a shift of the reversal potential in the positive direction, thus indicating a higher permeability of the channel to Na+ than to Cl- (PCl/PNa < 0.04), and suggesting that the channel is cation selective. With 145 mM Na+ on both sides of the membrane, the single-channel current-voltage relation was almost linear in the voltage range between -80 and +80 mV, the conductance showing some variability in the range between 140 and 170 pS. All monovalent alkali cations tested, as well as NH4+, permeated the channel effectively. Using the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation for the reversal potential, the permeability ratios with respect to Na+ were estimated to be: 1.32 for K+, 1.18 for NH4+, 1.15 for Rb+, 1.09 for Cs+, and 0.57 for Li+. Divalent cations, i.e. Mg2+ and Ca2+, in the external solution depressed not only the inward but also the outward Na+ currents, although reversal potential measurements indicated that both ions hav...Continue Reading

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