Ionic currents that generate the spontaneous diastolic depolarization in individual cardiac pacemaker cells. |
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| Authors: | E F Shibata and W R Giles |
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| Abstract: | An enzymatic dispersion procedure has been developed to obtain viable, spontaneously active single myocytes from cardiac pacemaker tissue: the bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) sinus venosus. Recordings of time- and voltage-dependent Ca2+ and K+ currents have been made by using a single suction-microelectrode technique. The results show that two time- and voltage-dependent currents interact to modulate the slope of the pacemaker potential. These are: (i) the decay of a delayed rectifier K+ current and (ii) the activation of a Ca2+ current. In addition, the data strongly suggest that cardiac pacemaker tissue does not have an inwardly rectifying background K+ current. |
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