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Role of intracellular calcium in the transient outward current of calf Purkinje fibres

Nature volume 269, pages 611–613 (1977)Cite this article

Abstract

CALCIUM-activated currents are known in red blood cells1, invertebrate neurones2, vertebrate spinal motoneurones3 and skate electroreceptors4, and it has been suggested that intracellular calcium increases outward currents in cardiac muscle5–7. The possibility of calcium-activated currents in heart and other muscle8,9 is interesting because these cells have intracellular stores that release calcium. Some of the apparent complexity of membrane currents in muscle might be explained as a manifestation of excitation–contraction coupling. If internal calcium (Cai) enhanced a surface membrane conductance, one might expect a phasic current which reflected the increase and decrease in Cai during contraction. No such current has been identified in heart. We report evidence here that intracellular calcium controls the transient outward current which underlies the early repolarisation in cardiac Purkinje fibres10,11. Thus the transient outward current is inhibited by blockers of calcium current, varies directly with the external calcium concentration and correlates with twitch amplitude in conditions which vary the amount of calcium released.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology and Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06510

    S. A. SIEGELBAUM, R. W. TSIEN & R. S. KASS

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  1. S. A. SIEGELBAUM
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  2. R. W. TSIEN
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  3. R. S. KASS
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SIEGELBAUM, S., TSIEN, R. & KASS, R. Role of intracellular calcium in the transient outward current of calf Purkinje fibres. Nature 269, 611–613 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269611a0

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