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Biomedical subjects

C R Bader

Publications and source records attributed to C R Bader.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Effect of changes in intra- and extracellular sodium on the inward (anomalous) rectification in salamander photoreceptors.

Solitary rod inner segments were obtained by enzymic dissociation of the tiger salamander retina. Ih, an inward current activated by membrane hyperpolarization, was studied using the single-pipette voltage-clamp technique with patch pipettes. In order to investigate Ih in isolation from voltage-dependent potassium and calcium currents, it was necessary to superfuse with a solution containing TEA and cobalt. When the solution in the patch pipette contained 45 mM-KCl and 50 mM-NaCl, the characteristics of Ih were indistinguishable from those previously described with fine-tip micro-electrodes: the reversal potential was near-30 mV and Ih was blocked by extracellular caesium and enhanced by an increase in the extracellular potassium concentration. The increase in Ih observed when the extracellular potassium concentration is raised is due to an increase in conductance and in driving force. Replacement of sodium in the patch pipette with choline caused a 15 mV displacement of the reversal potential for Ih in the depolarized direction. When using sodium-free patch pipettes, replacement of extracellular sodium displaced the reversal potential for Ih to -74 mV, a value in the range of the potassium equilibrium potential in solitary inner segments. Intracellular or intra- and extracellular sodium substitution affected neither the activation range of Ih nor the maximum conductance. From points 3-6 it can be concluded that Ih is carried mainly, if not exclusively, by sodium and potassium and that the channel responsible for Ih is insensitive to modifications of the intra- or extracellular sodium concentration. The results of long-term hyperpolarization, of partial block with caesium and of total sodium substitution are consistent with sodium and potassium permeating the same type of channel.

Action Potentials↗

Membrane currents in a developing parasympathetic ganglion.

It is reported that chick embryo ciliary ganglion neurons that have just terminated their migration and are in the process of forming a ganglion express several properties underlying membrane excitability. Evidence is presented which suggests that these cells possess voltage-dependent sodium, potassium, and calcium currents as well as a calcium-activated potassium current. These currents resemble those previously described in the more mature ciliary ganglion (Bader, C. R., Bertrand, D., and Kato, A. C. (1982). Dev. Biol. 94, 131-141) but may differ in their density per unit membrane surface. For example, the density per unit surface of the voltage dependent sodium current in younger neurons appears to be 5 to 10 times smaller than in more mature neurons.

Action Potentials↗

Diffuse and local effects of light adaptation in photoreceptors of the honey bee drone.

Intracellular recordings from drone photoreceptors were made by means of glass microelectrodes in superfused retinae. Exposure of a small portion of a cell to white light decreased the amplitude of responses to a small stimulus subsequently applied at different sites of the photoreceptor cell, i.e. light adaptation occurred throughout the cell. After 7 min of darkness, the responses had completely recovered. When a violet light (404 nm) was used to adapt a small portion of the cell, the responses at the site of exposure to the adapting stimulus remained depressed for at least 30 min. Illumination at the site of the violet adapting stimulus with green light (585 nm) caused an immediate recovery of the amplitude of the response. These results can be explained by the existence of two processes responsible for light adaptation: one is localized and persistent and appears to be due to changes in concentration of rhodopsin. The other affects the whole cell, is spontaneously reversible and depends upon the ability of the light to produce a receptor potential but not on any lasting change in rhodopsin concentration.

Action Potentials↗

Voltage-activated and calcium-activated currents studied in solitary rod inner segments from the salamander retina.

1. Solitary rod inner segments were obtained by enzymatic dissociation of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) retina. Their membrane currents were studied with the single-pipette voltage-clamp technique. Individual currents were isolated with the aid of pharmacological agents.2. Extracellular caesium blocked a current activated by hyperpolarization from -30 mV. Changing external sodium and potassium concentrations altered the value of the reversal potential in a manner consistent with the current being carried equally by both ions.3. Extracellular tetraethylammonium (TEA) blocked a current activated by depolarization from -70 mV. In normal medium this current had a reversal potential of -72 mV. Changing the external potassium concentration altered the value of the reversal potential in a manner consistent with the current being carried predominantly by potassium.4. Extracellular cobalt blocked a current activated by depolarization that had an initial inward and a later outward component.5. After EGTA was injected into an inner segment the outward component was suppressed. Cobalt then blocked an inward current. This current is believed to be carried predominantly by calcium. The conductance increased with depolarization from -45 mV and reached a maximum at approximately 0 mV. Following a step of depolarization the current activated rapidly (< 20 msec) and then remained constant for at least several seconds without evidence of inactivation.6. Injecting caesium into an inner segment eliminated a calcium-activated outward current believed to be carried by potassium ions.7. After the injection of caesium there remained another calcium-activated current with a reversal potential of -17 mV. Changing extracellular chloride concentration altered the value of the reversal potential in a manner consistent with chloride carrying at least 70% of the current. Another anion may carry the balance.8. When the five currents mentioned in items 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 were blocked, the membrane resistance between -90 and -25 mV was linear, time-independent, and had a high value (2.1 GOmega).9. The five identified currents can all be activated in the physiological range of voltage in which salamander rods normally operate.

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Storage and retrieval of bibliographic references using a microprocessor system.

A program is described for the storage and retrieval of bibliographic references. The program, designed for a dual floppy disk microcomputer system, allows fast access to references, which can be retrieved by keywords, by authors' names or by string matching. Provided a printer is available, the program prints reprint requests, while new references are being stored, and prints hard copies of the references. The program also includes the possibility of creating a new bibliographic file from one or more already existing files.

Bibliographies as Topic↗

A voltage-clamp study of the light response in solitary rods of the tiger salamander.

1. Single, isolated, rod photoreceptors were obtained by enzymatic dissociation of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) retina. These solitary cells retained the morphological features of rods of the intact retina and could be maintained in culture for several days. Solitary cells were penetrated with one or two micropipettes and their electrophysiology was studied by the voltage-clamp technique. 2. Intracellular recording with two micropipettes demonstrated that the inner segment of a solitary rod was effectively isopotential with the outer segment. 3. The time course of the voltage response to a flash resembled that of responses observed in rods in the intact retina. At low light intensities the response reached a peak in approximately 0.7 sec and then slowly declined. At high light intensities the time to peak response decreased and an initial transient arose as the response, after reaching the peak, quickly decreased to a less polarized plateau. 4. The normal voltage response could be compared with the current observed during a voltage clamp. At low light intensities the time course of the current response resembled the time course of the voltage response. When light intensity was increased the time course of the current response differed from the voltage response in that the time to peak amplitude remained relatively constant and an initial transient did not occur. It was possible to predict the current response produced by any intensity of light by using (i) an empirical equation which reproduced the time course of a dim response and (ii) the Michaelis-Menten equation. 5. The time course of the voltage-clamp current produced by a flash was the same at different values of maintained voltage. 6. The maximum amplitude of the voltage-clamp current produced by a flash or step of light was a non-linear function of membrane potential. It was relatively constant within the physiological range, decreased as the membrane potential was moved toward 0 mV, reversed polarity between 0 and 10 mV, and rapidly increased in magnitude as membrane potential was made more positive. Although this current was voltage dependent, no time dependence was evident (recording resolution greater than or equal to 5 msec). 7. Voltage-clamp experiments demonstrated an inward current which slowly developed after a hyperpolarizing voltage step. The effect of this voltage and time dependent current was to reduce, after a delay, the polarization initiated by light.

Ambystoma↗

Different time course of development for high-affinity choline uptake and choline acetyltransferase in the chick retina.

Synthesis and storage of [3H]acetylcholine in isolated pieces of chick retina increased in two stages during embryogenesis. The first increase coincided with a 100-fold rise in the activity of choline acetyltransferase (acetyl-CoA:choline O-acetyltransferase, EC 2.3.1.6), but during the second increase the activity of this enzyme remained essentially constant. The second increase instead was linked to an approximately 6-fold increase in the Vmax for high-affinity uptake of choline.

Animals↗

Responses to light of solitary rod photoreceptors isolated from tiger salamander retina.

Single, isolated rod photoreceptors were obtained by enzymatic dissociation of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) retina. These solitary cells retained the morphological features of rods of the intact retina and could be maintained in culture for several days. When impaled with micropipettes for electrophysiological recording, dark-adapted solitary rods had during darkness a resting potential of approximately -45 mV and a steady-state slope resistance of 500 Momega at rest. The current-voltage relationship showed both inward- and outward-going rectification. The responses to light of solitary rods were similar to those recorded from rods in the intact retina stimulated with large-diameter spots of light. The reversal potential of the light response of solitary rods was near 0 mV when measured in either the inner or outer segment.

Ambystoma↗

Human skeletal muscle has a voltage-gated proton current.

A voltage-gated proton current, IH, was studied with the whole-cell patch-clamp technique in human myotubes obtained from biopsies of human muscle. Studies of the reversal potential of IH during substitution of K+, Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, Cs+, and H+ in the extracellular solution indicated that protons were the major charge carriers of IH. This current is similar in many respects, but not identical, to the proton currents already described in other cell types. IH is activated by depolarization and it can be affected by extracellular pH. IH can be blocked by external divalent cations including Ca2+. This block is voltage-dependent, being more efficient at hyperpolarized than at depolarized voltages. The voltage-dependent properties of IH and its ability to be affected by pH and extracellular Ca2+ suggest that IH might be used by muscle cells to extrude protons during action potentials.

Aspartic Acid↗

Development of electrical membrane properties in cultured avian neural crest.

In previous studies of the development of membrane excitability in vertebrate neurones, a calcium current has commonly been observed first, later replaced by a sodium current. We have now examined the development of membrane currents in explant cultures of mesencephalic neural crest cells from the quail embryo. Some of these cells constitute the precursors for the ciliary and trigeminal ganglia and in certain conditions can be characterized morphologically as neurones after only a few hours in culture. We report here that two membrane currents are present in neurones after 1 day in culture, a voltage-and time-dependent potassium current and a leakage current. On the second day in culture, voltage-dependent sodium and calcium currents can be detected. With time the sodium and calcium currents increase in magnitude and all four currents are present for at least 7 days in culture. This onset of electrical excitability differs from that described in other vertebrate neurones both in vitro and in vivo, but resembles the sequence observed in neurones of the developing grasshopper.

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