Quantification of exponential Na+ current activation in N-bromoacetamide-treated cardiac myocytes of guinea-pig

1. The activation kinetics of the Na+ current was investigated in single ventricular cells of the guinea-pig heart using an improved oil-gap voltage clamp method. The inactivation of the current was removed by an intracellular application of N-bromoacetamide (NBA) for less than 1 min. Although the NBA treatment slightly decreased the peak amplitudes (81.7 +/- 13.4% of control, n = 15), the Na+ current remained stable after the removal of inactivation. 2. On depolarization, the activation of Na+ current took an exponential time course after the capacitive current decreased to 5% of its peak amplitude (40-100 microseconds after the pulse onset). The time course of deactivation, recorded on repolarization from 1.2 ms depolarization, was also a single exponential. 3. The time constants of activation and deactivation were almost identical when compared at a given test potential within a range of -50 to -30 mV. These findings indicate that the cardiac Na+ current activation is determined by m1 kinetics, or one rate-limiting step. 4. At potentials negative to -60 mV, the deactivation was complete, and its time constant decreased e-fold per 20.3 +/- 1.8 mV hyperpolarization (n = 7). 5. The degree of steady-state activation (m(infinity)) was fitted to a Boltzmann equation with a slope factor of 7.4 +/- 0.3 mV and a half-maximum potential of -33.3 +/- 0.8 mV (n = 8). 6. Rate constants for the rate-limiting activation step between a closed state and an open state (alpha m, beta m), were determined from m(infinity) and tau m over a potential range between -100 and +50 mV. On a logarithmic scale, beta m-1 was a linear function of the membrane potential over the range -100 and -30 mV. 7. Fitting the newly determined activation kinetics to the rising phase of the action potential indicated that the activation kinetics in the present study is relevant to the physiological action potential. The density of the Na+ channels thus obtained was 1075 +/- 186 pF-1 (n = 6). 8. The measurements in the NBA-treated Na+ current were compared with those obtained without treatment.