Sodium, Potassium, and Chloride Fluxes

In isolated bundles of external intercostal muscle from normal goats and goats with hereditary myotonia the following were determined: concentrations and unidirectional fluxes of Na+, K+, and C-, extracellular volume, water content, fiber geometry, and core-conductor constants. No significant difference between the two groups of preparations was found with respect to distribution of fiber size, intracellular concentrations of Na+ or Cl-, fiber water, resting membrane potential, or overshoot of action potential. The intracellular C1concentration in both groups of preparations was 4 to 7 times that expected if C1were distributed passively between intracellular and extracellular water. The membrane permeability to K (Ps) calculated from efflux data was (a) at 38°C, 0.365 X 10 6 cm sec1 for normal and 0.492 X 106 for myotonic muscle, and (b) at 250°C, 0.219 X 10-6 for normal and 0.199 X 10-6 for myotonic muscle. From C1washout curves of normal muscle usually only three exponential functions could be extracted, but in every experiment with myotonic muscle there was an additional, intermediate component. From these data Pcl could be calculated; it was 0.413 X 10-6 cm sec1 for myotonic fibers and was > 0.815 X 10-6 cm sec-1 for normal fibers. The resting membrane resistance of myotonic fibers was 4 to 6 times greater than that of normal fibers.