Voltage noise measurements across the pancreatic beta-cell membrane: calcium channel characteristics

1. Membrane potential fluctuations were measured in cells from mouse Islets of Langerhans identified as beta-cells by the characteristic pattern of electrical activity induced by 11 mM-D-glucose. 2. The membrane potential was controlled by adjusting the external potassium concentration, [K+]o, keeping the sum [Na+]o plus [K+]o constant. In the absence of glucose, when [K+]o is raised, the resulting depolarization is accompanied by a significant increase in voltage noise. 3 The amplitude and time course of the voltage noise were measured under various experimental conditions. The variance of the fluctuating voltage decreased monotonically along the depolarization induced by sudden increase in [K+]o, suggesting a monotonic reduction in the number of elementary events. 4. The frequency characteristics of the excess noise could be analysed as the sum of 1/f and 1/f2 components. While the 1/f component remained unaffected by the external application of 20mM-tetraethylammonium (TEA) and either 2 mM-Mn2+ or 2 mM-Co2+, the 1/f2 component was suppressed by both Mn2+ and Co2+. 5. The corner frequency, fc, of the 1/f2 component depended on membrane potential, which was adjusted by adjusting the [K+]o jump. These results support the idea that fc in these experiments is a measure of the channel relaxation. 6. Measurements of the input resistance in the frequency range from 0 to 25 Hz were used to obtain a rough estimate of the size of the channel conductance as 5 x 10(-12) omega (-1).