Regenerative hyperpolarization in rods

1. The electrical properties of the rods in Necturus maculosus were studied at the cell body and the outer segments in dark and light under current and voltage clamp with a pair of intracellular electrodes separated by about 1 mum. 2. The membrane resistance in the dark was voltage- and time-dependent both for the cell body and the outer segment. Slight depolarizations in the cell body reduced the slope resistance from 60 to 10 M omega with a time constant of about 1 sec. Polarization in either direction, at the outer segment, when greater than about 20 mV, reduced the slope resistance from 60 to 30 M omega. The dark potential in the cell body was typically -30 to -35 m V; at the outer segment it was typically only -10 to -15 mV. 3. The light-elicited voltage response in both the cell body and the outer segment was largest with the membrane near the dark potential level. In both regions, the response was reduced when the membrane was polarized in either direction. 4. Under voltage-clamp conditions, a reversal potential for the light response near + 10 mV was measured at the outer segment. At the cell body no reversal potential for the light response was measured; there the clamping current required during the light response was almost of the same magnitude at all potential levels. 5. When the membrane at the cell body was hyperpolarized in the dark under voltage clamp, a transient outward current, typically about one-half the magnitude of the initial inward clamping current was required to maintain the membrane at the clamped potential level. This outward current transient was associated with a decrease in membrane resistance with similar time course. The transient outward current reversed and became inward when the membrane was clamped to potentials more negative than -80 mV. Thus, the transient outward current appears to involve a transient activation initiated by hyperpolarization. I is regenerative in that it is initiated by hyperpolarization and tends to further hyperpolarize the membrane. 6. The reversal potential for the light response was measured at the outer segment but not at the cell body. The regenerative hyperpolarization was measured at the cell body but not at the outer segment. Thus, the outer segment and cell body appear to have different electrical properties: a light-elicited resistance increase at the outer segment causes a potential-dependent transient decrease at the inner rod. 7. An electrical model of the rod, based upon estimates of the membrane resistances and membrane e.m.f.s. in the dark, was derived from the data. This model predicts the appropriate response potentials at outer segment and cell body when perturbed by the measured light-elicited resistance increase at the outer segment. An estimate of membrane current in dark, of 0-2 mA, is also derived from the model.