Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W H Freygang.
The transient imbalance of a Wheatstone bridge was used to estimate the changes in both membrane and myoplasmic impedance that occurred as an action potential propagated over a 1 mm length of a frog muscle fiber. It was also used to estimate the changes in the membrane impedance alone. Alterations in myoplasmic impedance that might have been predicted were not found.
An attempt has been made to decide upon the most reasonable equivalent circuit that will describe the passive linear properties of the Purkinje strands of sheep heart muscle. In order to do this, measurements were made of the phase angle of the characteristic admittance as well as the longitudinal impedance, both as functions of frequency. The results of both types of experiments indicate the presence of a longitudinally oriented capacity with a time constant of about 60-70 microsec. It is suspected that this capacity and time constant represent the connection between the cells, both radially and longitudinally. The plasma membrane contains another capacity with a time constant of about 15 msec.
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Some of the linear electrical properties of frog sartorius muscle have been investigated in Ringer's fluid and in a Ringer fluid made hypertonic by the addition of sucrose or NaCl. Electrical constants were determined from measurements of the phase angle of the admittance of a fiber for an applied alternating current, from measurements of the voltage induced by an inward pulse of current, and from measurements of the conduction velocity of the action potential and the time constant of its foot. The dilation of the transverse tubular system induced by the sucrose hypertonic Ringer fluid was correlated with the change in the electrical constants. From this it is concluded that a two time constant equivalent circuit for the membrane, as proposed by Falk and Fatt, is in good agreement with our results. Both the area of the membrane of the transverse tubular system, and the capacity (c(e)) attributed to it, increased in the sucrose hypertonic Ringer fluid. The resistance r(e), which is in series with c(e), did not fall when the transverse tubular system was dilated and probably is not located in that system.
The late after-potential that follows trains of impulses in frog muscle fibers is virtually absent when most of the intracellular potassium is replaced by rubidium and the muscle is immersed in rubidium-containing Ringer's fluid. Its amplitude is also reduced in freshly dissected, potassium-containing muscle fibers that are immersed directly in Rb-Ringer's fluid. These findings are discussed in terms of the model for muscle membrane of Adrian and Freygang (1962 a, b) and in relation to the report of Adrian (1964) that Rb-containing muscle fibers do not exhibit the variations in potassium permeability as a function of membrane potential that are found in fibers with normal intracellular potassium concentration immersed in Ringer's fluid.
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