Calcium-activated non-selective cation channel in ventricular cells isolated from adult guinea-pig hearts

1. A class of Ca2+-activated non-selective cation channel was identified in ventricular cells, which were dissociated from adult guinea-pig hearts using collagenase. 2. Under cell-attached conditions the patch electrode filled with a Na+-rich solution recorded no obvious single-channel current at the resting membrane potential. Subsequent superfusion of the ventricular cell with a Na+-free Tyrode solution induced an inward-going single-channel current as well as contracture of the cell. Kinetics of this channel were not affected by varying the membrane potential. 3. Single-channel currents showing a conductance similar to those observed in the cell-attached patches were recorded in isolated inside-out membrane patches when the inner side of the membrane was exposed to a free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) higher than 0.3 microM. The slope conductance of the channel was 14.8 +/- 2.9 pS (mean +/- S.D., n = 17) at 20-25 degrees C. 4. The reversal potential examined in the inside-out patch was about 0 mV irrespective of the Na+-rich, K+-rich, Li+-rich or Cs+-rich solutions on either side of the membrane, thereby indicating that the channel was almost equally permeable to these cations. 5. The open probability of the channel was increased by raising [Ca2+]i with the maximum value of 0.93 +/- 0.17 (n = 4) at about 10 microM [Ca2+]i. The dose-response relation was fitted to the saturation kinetics with a Hill coefficient of 3.0 and a half-maximum concentration of 1.2 microM [Ca2+]i. 6. The gating kinetics were complex; both the open and closed time histograms showed at least two exponential components with time constants of 3.8 +/- 1.3 ms and 140 +/- 110 ms for open time and 1.8 +/- 1.1 ms and 14.9 +/- 5.3 ms for closed time (n = 4) at 10 microM [Ca2+]i. Reduction of [Ca2+]i resulted in both a decrease of the time constant of the slow component in the open time histogram and an increase of the two time constants of the closed time histogram. 7. Contribution of the channel to the whole-cell current was discussed based on an estimation of the channel density, presumably about 0.04 approximately 0.4/microns 2. Maximum activation of the channel would produce 7.2 approximately 72 nS of membrane conductance, which would explain the reported magnitude of the Ca2+-mediated background conductance of the single myocyte. The channel may also contribute, at least in part, to the transient inward current which develops in Ca2+-overloaded cardiac cells.