Potassium channel activity in sarcolemmal vesicles formed from skeletal muscle fibres of normal and dystrophic mice

Sarcolemmal vesicles were produced from adult mouse extensor digitorum longus muscle (EDL) by treating swollen muscle fibres with collagenase. Vesicles formed from dystrophic (C57BL/6J dy/dy) and phenotypically normal animals were patch clamped and the single channel activity was recorded. Three types of K+ channel were observed in excised patches taken from normal and dystrophic muscle. A large conductance (300 pS) Ca2(+)-dependent K+ channel (KCa) was the most frequently observed of the K+ channels in both types of muscle preparation. In a number of patches taken from dystrophic muscle the open probability-voltage relationship for the KCa channel was markedly different from that in normal muscle, suggesting a possible reduction in Ca2+ sensitivity. An ATP-sensitive K+ channel (90 pS) was common to both normal and dystrophic muscle vesicles and was present in a large number of patches. An inwardly rectifying K+ channel (40 pS) was also observed in both types of sarcolemmal vesicles. The properties of all three K+ channels types were broadly consistent with other observations of skeletal muscle K+ channels, though all had higher conductances than had previously been noted in other species.