Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of General Physiology logoLink to The Journal of General Physiology
. 1969 Dec 1;54(6):765–781. doi: 10.1085/jgp.54.6.765

Membrane Characteristics of the Canine Papillary Muscle Fiber

Yasuzi Sakamoto 1
PMCID: PMC2225956  PMID: 5357193

Abstract

Passive and active responses to intracellular and extracellular stimulation were studied in the canine papillary muscle. The electrotonic potential produced by extracellular polarization with the partition chamber method fitted the time course and the spatial decay expected from the cable theory (the time constant, 3.3 msec; the space constant, 1.2 mm). Contrariwise, spatial decay of the electrotonic potentials produced by intracellular polarization was very short and did not fit the decay curve expected for a simple cable, although only a small difference of time course in the electrotonic potentials produced by intracellular and extracellular polarizations was observed. A similar time course might result from the fact that when current flow results from intracellular polarization, the input resistance is less dependent on the membrane resistance. The foot of the propagated action potential rose exponentially with a time constant of 1.1 msec and a conduction velocity of 0.68 m/sec. The membrane capacity was calculated from the time constant of the foot potential and the conduction velocity to be 0.76 µF/cm2. The responses of the papillary muscle membrane to intracellular stimulation differed from those to extracellular stimulation applied with the partition method in the following ways: higher threshold potential, shorter latency for the active response, linearity of the current-voltage relationship, and no reduction in the membrane resistance at the crest of the action potential during current flow.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (997.7 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. BURKE W., GINSBORG B. L. The electrical properties of the slow muscle fibre membrane. J Physiol. 1956 Jun 28;132(3):586–598. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1956.sp005551. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berkinblit M. B., Kovalev S. A., Smolianinov V. V., Chailakhian L. M. Elektricheskaia struktura miokardial'noi tkani. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR. 1965 Jul 21;163(3):741–744. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CRANEFIELD P. F., HOFFMAN B. F. Propagated repolarization in heart muscle. J Gen Physiol. 1958 Mar 20;41(4):633–649. doi: 10.1085/jgp.41.4.633. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. GEORGE E. P. Resistance values in a syncytium. Aust J Exp Biol Med Sci. 1961 Jun;39:267–274. doi: 10.1038/icb.1961.27. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. JOHNSON E. A., ROBERTSON P. A., TILLE J. J. Purkinje and ventricular membrane resistances during the rising phase of the action potential. Nature. 1958 Oct 25;182(4643):1161–1162. doi: 10.1038/1821161a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. JOHNSON E. A., TILLE J. Changes in polarisation resistance during the repolarisation phase of the rabbit ventricular action potential. Aust J Exp Biol Med Sci. 1960 Dec;38:509–513. doi: 10.1038/icb.1960.56. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. JOHNSON E. A., TILLE J. Investigations of the electrical properties of cardiac muscle fibres with the aid of intracellular double-barrelled electrodes. J Gen Physiol. 1961 Jan;44:443–467. doi: 10.1085/jgp.44.3.443. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. KURIYAMA H., TOMITA T. THE RESPONSES OF SINGLE SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS OF GUINEA-PIG TAENIA COLI TO INTRACELLULARLY APPLIED CURRENTS, AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE SPONTANEOUS ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY. J Physiol. 1965 May;178:270–289. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1965.sp007627. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kamiyama A., Matsuda K. Electrophysiological properties of the canine ventricular fiber. Jpn J Physiol. 1966 Aug 15;16(4):407–420. doi: 10.2170/jjphysiol.16.407. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. NOBLE D. The voltage dependence of the cardiac membrane conductance. Biophys J. 1962 Sep;2:381–393. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(62)86862-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. TASAKI I., HAGIWARA S. Capacity of muscle fiber membrane. Am J Physiol. 1957 Mar;188(3):423–429. doi: 10.1152/ajplegacy.1957.188.3.423. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Tanaka I., Sasaki Y. On the electrotonic spread in cardiac muscle of the mouse. J Gen Physiol. 1966 Jul;49(6):1089–1110. doi: 10.1085/jgp.0491089. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Tomita T. Current spread in the smooth muscle of the guinea-pig vas deferens. J Physiol. 1967 Mar;189(1):163–176. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1967.sp008161. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Tomita T. Electrical responses of smooth muscle to external stimulation in hypertonic solution. J Physiol. 1966 Mar;183(2):450–468. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1966.sp007876. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tomita T. Membrane capacity and resistance of mammalian smooth muscle. J Theor Biol. 1966 Nov;12(2):216–227. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(66)90114-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of General Physiology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES