Figure 4.

Time course of activation is faster after application laminar shear stress. A, currents evoked using an envelope of tails protocol to determine the time course of activation. Peak tail current was evoked by a step to −60 mV following a pre-pulse of increasing duration to 0 mV. Holding was −80 mV. B, apparent activation is faster during shear stress application. Individual data points at each given voltage are represented as mean ± S.E. The peak amplitudes of the tail currents (A) were plotted against test pulse duration and fitted to a single exponential function. C, time constant of activation (t_½) was 279.9 ± 58.2 ms at a flow rate of 1 ml/min and 155.5 ± 49.2 ms under LSS (mean ± S.D., p < 0.0001, n = 8 paired t test).