Effect of large variations in external potassium on the oxygen consumption of rat heart strips.

Abstract

THE link between the electrical state of the cell membrane and the metabolism of the cell is unknown. High external K+, which reduces the membrane potential, causes a five-fold increase in resting oxygen consumption1 and a twenty-fold increase in resting heat production2,3 of frog skeletal muscle. The onset of the metabolic response (often called the Solandt effect) is so rapid that it is thought to be due to the change in potential rather than to a raised intra-cellular K+ (ref. 3). This communication reports our efforts to test for the Solandt effect in isolated trabeculae carneae from the rat heart4.