Cat heart muscle in vitro. III. The extracellular space.

The "osmotic gradient" method, an intracellular microelectrode technique for determining whether an uncharged, water-soluble molecule enters cells or remains extracellular, is described. Using this method, a series of carbohydrates of graded molecular size were examined. In cat papillary muscles mannitol, molecular radius 4.0 A, remained extracellular while arabinose, molecular radius 3.5 A entered the cells. Measurement of the simultaneous uptake of H(3)-mannitol and C(14)-inulin showed that mannitol equilibrates with 40 per cent of total water in 1 hour, after which the mannitol space does not further increase. By contrast, inulin, molecular radius approximately 15 A, equilibrates with 24 per cent of total water in 1 hour; thereafter the inulin space continues to increase very slowly. The intracellular K concentrations are significantly higher and the intracellular Na and Cl concentrations significantly lower when mannitol rather than inulin is used to measure the extracellular space. The intracellular Cl concentration determined with Cl(36) or Br(82) is significantly higher than that calculated from the membrane potential assuming a passive Cl distribution. In addition, it is shown that choline enters and is probably metabolized by the cells of papillary muscle.