QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by BREZDEN, B. L. Articles by GARDNER, D. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by BREZDEN, B. L. Articles by GARDNER, D. R.

Journal of Experimental Biology 108,305-314 (1984)
Published by Company of Biologists 1984

The Ionic Basis of the Resting Potential in a Cross-Striated Muscle of the Aquatic Snail Lymnaea Stagnalis

B. L. BREZDEN ¹ and D. R. GARDNER ¹

¹ Carleton University, Department of Biology, Ottawa, Ontario KJS 5B6, Canada

The mean resting potential in the heart ventricle muscle cells of the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis was found to be -61.2±3.5 (..) mV (ranging from -56mV to -68mV). The average intracellular potassium concentration was estimated to be 51.5±14.6(..) m (ranging from 27.8 m to 77.3 m). The membrane of the heart ventricle muscle cells appears to be permeable to both potassium and chloride, as changes in the extracellular concentration of either of these ions resulted in a change in the membrane potential. A ten-fold change in the extracellular potassium concentration was associated with a 50.4±3.8(..) mV slope when the potassium concentration was above about 6 m. Deviations from the straight-line relation predicted for a potassium electrode could be accounted for by introducing a term for sodium permeability. The ionic basis of the membrane potential in these cells can be described by a modified form of the Goldman-Hodgkin- Katz equation.

Key words: Lymnaea stagnalis, heart muscle, resting potential

Accepted on June 27, 1983