Current-voltage relations of the apical and basolateral membranes of the frog skin.

We determined the current-voltage (I-V) relations of the apical and basolateral barriers of frog skins by impaling the cells with an intracellular microelectrode and assuming that the current across the cellular pathway was equal to the amiloride-inhibitable current. We found that: (a) The responses in transepithelial current and intracellular potential to square pulses of transepithelial potential (VT) varied markedly with time. (b) As a consequence of these transient responses, the basolateral I-V relation was markedly dependent on the time of sampling after the beginning of each pulse. The apical I-V plot was much less sensitive to the time of sampling within the pulse. (c) The I-V data for the apical barrier approximated the I-V relations calculated from the Goldman constant field equation over a relatively wide range of membrane potentials (+/- 100 mV). (d) A sudden reduction in apical bath [Na+] resulted in an increase in apical permeability and a shift in the apical barrier zero-current potential (Ea) toward less positive values. The shift in Ea was equivalent to a change of 45 mV for a 10-fold change in apical [Na+]. (e) The transient responses of the skin to square VT pulses were described by the sum of two exponentials with time constants of 114 and 1,563 ms, which are compatible with the time constants that would be produced by an RC circuit with capacitances of 65 and 1,718 microF. The larger capacitance is too large to identify it comfortably with a true dielectric membrane capacitance.