Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir2.3

Title: Potassium ion currents in the crayfish giant axon. Dynamic characteristics.

Authors: S H Young, J W Moore

Journal, date & volume: Biophys. J., 1981 Dec , 36, 723-33

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6275922

Abstract
The kinetics of the voltage-sensitive potassium channel in crayfish axon have been examined. The conductance increase after a step depolarization from rest can be described by a first-order kinetic process raised to the third power. When conditioning voltage levels preceded the test pulse, the steady-state conductance was found to be independent of initial conditions. Depolarizing conditioning voltages in general allowed superposition of test voltage potassium currents by a shift along the time axis. Hyperpolarizing conditioning voltages produced a delay in onset of conductance during the test pulse and changed the kinetics so that superposition was not possible. The delay increased during the hyperpolarization with a first-order lag having a time constant in the range of 1.5-3 ms. Return to the resting level caused recovery from the delayed state to follow a single exponential decay with a time constant of 1.9-2.2 ms. The steady state delay vs. voltage curves were not saturated at potentials as negative as -180 mV.