Slow changes in potassium permeability in skeletal muscle.

1. Voltage clamp experiments on sartorius muscle fibres at 3 degrees C showed that the potassium current is divisible into three components, namely:(a) Current in the delayed rectifier channel, which reached a maximum in about 0.1 sec at -30 mV, and declined with a time constant of about 4 msec when the fibre was repolarized to -100 mV; this component had an approximately linear instantaneous current-voltage relation and an equilibrium potential E(1) at 10-15 mV positive to the resting potential.(b) A slow component which reached a maximum in about 3 sec at -30 mV, and declined with a time constant of about 0.5 sec when the fibre was repolarized to -100 mV; this component had an approximately linear instantaneous current-voltage relation and a mean equilibrium potential E(2) at -83 mV in fibres where E(1) averaged -75 mV.(c) Current in the inward rectifier channel which decreased with a time constant of about 0.25 sec when the fibre was hyperpolarized to -150 mV. This component had an equilibrium potential close to the resting potential and an instantaneous current-voltage relation which was that of an inward rectifier.2. The general characteristics of the late after-potential in muscles in hypertonic solutions at 3 degrees C are consistent with those of the slow conductance change. The sign of the late after-potentials was reversed by depolarizing below -80 mV.3. The decline of current during a maintained hyperpolarization cannot be attributed solely to a decrease in tubular potassium concentration, since there may be a large decrease in current without much alteration of equilibrium potential. The negative slope conductance often seen at -150 mV is also difficult to reconcile with the tubular depletion hypothesis.4. Replacement of 10 mM-K by 10 mM-Rb abolished inward rectification but had less effect on the fast and slow components of the potassium conductance.