Action of Potassi ~ and Narcotics on Rectification

The characteristics of the cell membrane seem to be of primary importance in the case of both conduction and contraction. Among the membrane qualities recently discovered is electrical rectification; ~z., the ability of the membrane to permit electrical current to pass more easily outward than inward (Cole and Curtis, 1941; Guttman and Cole, 1941). The present paper constitutes an at tempt to study the mechanism involved in tissue rectification by observing the effect of variation of the ionic medium bathing the cells. I t will be shown that the potassium ion decreases rectification in frog nerve and muscle and that this effect is reversible. I t will also be shown that various narcotics, e.g. chloroform, isoamyl carbamate, veratrine sulfate, also have the ability to decrease the rectifying property of frog nerve and muscle and that lack of calcium, excess calcium, or barium, have no such effect.