The charge carried by single-channel currents of rat cultured muscle cells in the presence of local anaesthetics.

Acetylcholine-induced single-channel currents were measured in the presence of the lignocaine derivative QX222. Unit responses appeared as bursts of short current pulses as a result of the fast blocking action of the drug (QX222). The amplitude of the individual current pulses was not changed by the presence of the drug up to a concentration of 250 microM. The time integral of current during a burst, which for a sequential blocking model should be independent of drug concentration, decreased at concentrations of QX222 higher than 40 microM. The distribution of gap times within a burst could not be fitted by a single exponential for high concentrations of QX222. It is concluded that the simple sequential model of channel blockade does not apply for concentrations of QX222 higher than 40 microM.