Electrophysiology of the marine diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii IV: types of non-linear current-voltage-time relationships recorded with single saw-tooth voltage-clamp experiments.

Electrophysiological states of the marine diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii are known to change spontaneously in the temporal range of seconds. In order to assess the genuine current-voltage-time relationships of individual states in less than a second, voltage-clamp experiments have been carried out using single sweeps of saw-tooth shaped command voltages. This method is introduced with model calculations. Plotting the results in current-voltage coordinates provides convenient access to several electrophysiological entities, such as absence of drift (smoothly closed IV loops), membrane capacitance (by I jump at sign reversal of dV/dt), and ohmic conductances (in linear regions of the current-voltage relationship), as well as equilibrium voltage (internal intersection of capacitance-corrected, 8-shaped tracings) and coarse gating kinetics (rise or fall of capacitance-corrected I at sign reversal of dV/dt) of a voltage-sensitive ion conductance. From electrophysiological measurements with double-barreled glass-microelectrodes on C. wailesii, several distinct types of current-voltage loops are presented. Most of the data, including recordings from electrical excitation, can be interpreted as temporal relaxations of voltage-sensitive conductances for K(+) and Cl(-). A more detailed analysis of the effect of tetraethylammonium (TEA(+)) shows that 10 and 20 mM TEA(+) inhibit the K(+) conductance in C. wailesii only by up to about 20% but predominantly via a K(+) outward rectifier.