Temperature dependence of Na currents in rabbit and frog muscle membranes.

The effect of temperature (0-22 degrees C) on the kinetics of Na channel conductance was determined in voltage-clamped rabbit and frog skeletal muscle fibers using the triple-Vaseline-gap technique. The Hodgkin-Huxley model was used to extract kinetic parameters; the time course of the conductance change during step depolarization followed m3h kinetics. Arrhenius plots of activation time constants (tau m), determined at both moderate (-10 to -20 mV) and high (+100 mV) depolarizations, were linear in both types of muscle. In rabbit muscle, Arrhenius plots of the inactivation time constant (tau h) were markedly nonlinear at +100 mV, but much less so at -20 mV. The reverse situation was found in frog muscle. The contrast between the highly nonlinear Arrhenius plot of tau h at +100 mV in rabbit muscle, compared with that of frog muscle, was interpreted as revealing an intrinsic nonlinearity in the temperature dependence of mammalian muscle Na inactivation. These results are consistent with the notion that mammalian cell membranes undergo thermotropic membrane phase transitions that alter lipid-channel interactions in the 0-22 degrees C range. Furthermore, the observation that Na channel activation appears to be resistant to this effect suggests that the gating mechanisms that govern activation and inactivation reside in physically distinct regions of the channel.