Depletion and accumulation of potassium in the extracellular clefts of cardiac Purkinje fibers during voltage clamp hyperpolarization and depolarization.

1. Voltage clamp hyperpolarization and depolarization elicited current records consistent with depletion and accumulation, respectively, of potassium in the extracellular clefts of cardiac Purkinje fibers. Hyperpolarization was shown to shift the reversal potential for the pacemaker current, ik2, a measure of Ek, to more negative potentials. Upon depolarization, a slowly increasing outward current was observed. Analysis of the tail currents elicited by hyperpolarization revealed that a time-dependent change in gx could not explain the time-dependent outward current. However, the tail currents were consistent with a shift of Ek to more positive potentials during the depolarization. 2. Alteration in potassium driving force over time results in a time-dependent ik1 even though the underlying conductance is time-independent [29]. This time-dependent current may contribute to the currents usually identified as ik2 and ix. 3. The potential at which ik2 reverses direction is altered by the clamp program used to elicit it and is obscured by the superimposition of a time-dependent current due to depletion. 4. Records consistent with the extracellular cleft potassium concentration being less than that of the bulk phase in the quiescent fiber were obtained. However, an unequivocal interpretation of these current reocrds could not be made. 5. These results suggest that conclusions based on the assumption that potassium driving force remains constant during a voltage clamp pulse may be in error. Thus, time-dependent currents cannot be assumed to result solely from time-dependent conductance changes.