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Effects of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ on voltage-activated currents in Helix pomatia L. Neurons

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Abstract

Effects of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ were studied on voltage-activated Na-, Ca-, and K-currents in snail neurons. It was found that: 1. In normal physiological saline Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ ions exerted complex changes on the total ionic currents; 2. All three metal ion have depressed the inward Na-currents but with different K D , moreover Pb 2+ increased Na-current at low concentrations (5 μM); 3. The inward Ca-current was also reduced. The sequence of the blocking effect of metals was different: Pb>Cu>Zn, however the steady-state inactivation was influenced only by Cu2+; 4. Outward currents were decreased in all neurons by Cu2+, but the effects of Pb2+ and Zn2+ were either depression or enhancement in different indentified neurons; 5. The possibility of binding heavy metals to wide variety of membrane proteins and the observed effects on different ionic channels suggest that the metal effect is complex and cannot be taken as a specific one to a single channel type or site of location.

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Author notes

  1. O. N. Osipenko

    Present address: Department of General Physiology of Nervous System of the A. A. Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 24, 252601, Kiev, U.S.S.R.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Balaton Limnological Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Tihany, Hungary

    O. N. Osipenko, T. Kiss & J. Salánki

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  1. O. N. Osipenko
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  2. T. Kiss
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  3. J. Salánki
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Osipenko, O.N., Kiss, T. & Salánki, J. Effects of Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ on voltage-activated currents in Helix pomatia L. Neurons. Environ Monit Assess 22, 57–72 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402655

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