The contribution of tonoplast and plasma membrane to the electrical properties of a higher-plant cell

Abstract

The cytoplasm of subepidermal parenchyma cells of Avena sativa L. coleoptiles was collected at one end of the cell by centrifugation. The electrical properties of both plasmalemma and tonoplast were then examined with microelectrodes inserted into both cytoplasm and vacuole of the same cell. The input resistance of the cytoplasm measured with either electrode was 7.5±0.8 MΩ while that of the vacuole measured with the single vacuolar electrode and a bridge circuit was 29.2±3.1 MΩ. The latter value was not significantly different from that of control, uncentrifuged cells. The resistance of the tonoplast is therefore several times larger than the input resistance of the cytoplasm, but the specific resistance of the plasma membrane cannot be calculated without knowledge of the extent and pattern of intercellular coupling. Electrical coupling of the cytoplasms of adjacent cells was observed in only two out of eight experiments. The mean potential of the vacuoles,-77.8±6.4 mV, was not significantly different from that of the cytoplasm; however, all the available evidence indicates that variable tip potentials in impaled cells made absolute determination of the membrane potential uncertain. In fusicoccin, the cells hyperpolarized by 20 mV within 10 min. This reponse occurred entirely at the plasmalemma.