Abstract
Pancreatic acini secrete Na+, Cl–and H2O in response to secretagogues such as acetylcholine. Cl–channels in the luminal membrane are a prerequisite for this secretion. The properties of the corresponding conductance have previously been examined using whole-cell recordings. The present study attempts to examine the properties of the single channels in cell-attached and cell-free excised patches from the luminal membrane. To this end the pipettes were filled with an N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG+) chloride/gluconate solution. The voltage-clamp range was chosen to be pipette positive (cell negative, –60 to –130 mV) in order to increase the driving force for outward Cl–currents. Under resting conditions cell attached luminal patches had very few single-channel currents (12 out of 45 experiments). Their incidence was sharply increased by carbachol (CCH, 1 μmol/l) in 41 out of 45 experiments. The single-channel conductance of these channels was 1.97 ± 0.05 pS. The properties of these channels in excised patches were examined further: their single-channel conductance was 2.2 ± 0.07 pS (n = 59) and their conductance selectivity was I– > Br– > Cl– >> gluconate. None of the typical Cl–channel blockers (DIDS, NPPB, glibenclamide 100 μmol/l) blocked these channels. It is concluded that the luminal membrane of the rat pancreatic acinus possesses Cl–channels with very low conductance which are activated by carbachol.
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Received: 31 January 1997 / Received after revision: 26 February 1997 / Accepted: 5 March 1997
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Zdebik, A., Hug, M. & Greger, R. Chloride channels in the luminal membrane of rat pancreatic acini. Pflügers Arch 434, 188–194 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004240050382
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004240050382