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. 1966 Sep;186(1):11–26. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1966.sp008017

An interaction between potassium and sodium in the smooth muscle of the guinea-pig taenia coli

P J Goodford
PMCID: PMC1395903  PMID: 5914247

Abstract

1. The potassium content of the guinea-pig taenia coli was 72 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. after equilibration with normal Krebs-type solution at 35° C in vitro.

2. It fell to 13 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. when Ca2+ and Mg2+ were omitted from the bathing solution, but this fall was reversed in part when [Na+]o was also reduced.

3. The taeniae relaxed when Ca2+ and Mg2+ were omitted from the normal solution. However, they contracted if Na+ was also omitted.

4. Effects 2 and 3 may show some antagonism between sodium and divalent cations in smooth muscle.

5. The extracellular space of the same muscles was measured with [14C]sorbitol. It was 440 ml./kg fr. wt. in normal solution.

6. The uptake of 42K was measured in the same muscles at the same time. An initial rapid exchange was followed within 2 min by a slow (half-time [unk] 50 min in normal solution) and presumably intracellular uptake of tracer.

7. In normal solution the initial rapid phase of 42K exchange corresponded to 3·0 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. A value of 2·6 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. would have been calculated from [K+]o and the [14C]sorbitol space, and these estimates did not differ significantly.

8. The [14C]sorbitol space fell slightly when [Ca2+]o, [Mg2+]o, and [Na+]o were reduced, but the amount of rapidly exchanging potassium increased significantly reaching 4·6 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. in solutions from which Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+ were omitted. The [14C]sorbitol space only accounted for 2·4 m-mole K/kg fr. wt. under these conditions, a significantly smaller quantity.

9. The observations have been interpreted on Wilbrandt & Koller's (1948) hypothesis that there may be a superficial anionic region in muscle cells. On this model the present results suggest that K+ rather than Na+ is favoured as a monovalent counter-cation in the taenia coli.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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