Double-barreled chloride channels of collecting duct basolateral membrane

Microelectrode studies have shown that the basolateral membrane of the principal cells (PC) of the rabbit cortical collecting duct (CCD) contains Cl(-)-conductive pathways. To determine the properties of single Cl- channels we prepared the basolateral membrane for patch clamping by incubating the CCD in collagenase and/or tearing the basement membrane with a fine needle. When high concentrations of collagenase were used, only a small nonselective channel was observed. In low concentrations or the absence of collagenase, however, we identified a Cl- channel (g46) in both cell-attached and excised patches. The Cl- channel gated rapidly between three equally spaced substates of 0 (S0), 23 (S1), and 46 pS (S2) and slowly between states C (inactive) and S0. The conductance of each substate was not voltage dependent between pipette potentials from -60 to +60 mV (cell attached). The probability that the channel gated from C to S0 increased with hyperpolarizing potentials, but the probability that g46 was in substate S0 increased with depolarizing patch potentials. This channel was similar to that described by Miller for the nonexcitable membrane of the electric organ of Torpedo californica. Because g46 was the most frequently observed basolateral membrane channel and was voltage dependent at physiological potentials, it is probably the channel responsible for the dominant Cl- conductance of PC.