When striated muscle cells of the jellyfish Polyorchis penicillatus were dissociated at 30 degrees C they retained their in vivo morphology and the integrity of ionic currents. This contrasted with cells dissociated at room temperature that rarely expressed any inward currents. Whole-cell, patch-clamp recordings from dissociated muscle cells revealed that the inward component of the total ionic...

We study the switching characteristics of nanoscale junctions created between a tungsten tip and a silver film covered by a thin ionic conductor layer. Atomic-sized junctions show spectacular current induced switching characteristics, but both the magnitude of the switching voltage and the direction of the switching vary randomly for different junctions. In contrast, somewhat larger junctions w...

We demonstrate that voltage-biased solid-state nanopores can transiently localize DNA in an electrolyte solution. A double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecule is trapped when the electric field near the nanopore attracts and immobilizes a non-end segment of the molecule across the nanopore orifice without inducing a folded molecule translocation. In this demonstration of the phenomenon, the ionic cur...

The membrane response to mechanical stimulation was investigated under voltage-clamp conditions in the hypotrich ciliate Stylonychia mytilus (Protozoa). The mechanoreceptor current shows high ionic selectivity, unlike than in metazoans. It is exclusively carried by potassium ions and is selectively inhibited by tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine. Procaine, tetramethylammonium, caesium and d...

The transport of molecules in confined media is subject to entropic barriers. So theoretically, asymmetry of the confinement length may lead to molecular ratchets with entropy as the only driving force for the biased transport. We address experimentally this question by performing alternative ionic current measurements on electrolytes confined in neutral conical nanopores. In case anions and ca...

A theoretical analysis is presented that allows in situ measurements of the physical properties of a composite electrode, namely, the electronic conductivity, the ionic conductivity, the exchange-current density, and the double-layer capacitance. Use is made of the current-voltage responses of the composite electrode to dc and ac polarizations under three different experimental configurations. ...

The authors measured ionic current blockages caused by protein translocation through voltage-biased silicon nitride nanopores in ionic solution. By calculating the mean amplitude, time duration, and the integral of current blockages, they estimated the relative charge and size of protein molecules at a single molecule level. The authors measured the change in protein charge of bovine serum albu...

The effects of putative phospholipase A2 inhibitors mepacrine and chloroquine on membrane ionic currents were studied in intact frog atrial trabeculae. Both agents decreased slow calcium channel current Isi and fast sodium channel current If. Isi was affected twice at least in comparison to If. Half-block of Isi was observed at approximately 10(-6) mol/l mepacrine and at approximately 10(-5) mo...

OBJECTIVE To study the ionic mechanisms of electrophysiologic changes in cell excitability and action potential duration during the acute phase of myocardial ischemia. METHODS Using an ionic-based theoretical model of the cardiac ventricular cell, the dynamic LRd model, we have simulated the three major component conditions of acute ischemia (elevated [K]o, acidosis and anoxia) at the level o...

A robust pick and placement operation of a single cell is necessary for efficient sample collection. Detection and manipulation of single cells requires minimum invasiveness. We report a less-invasive method for picking up and placing single cells using optical and electrical observations for robust cell manipulation. We measured the ionic current through a glass pipette during a cell capture a...