Abstract
Type-I cells of rabbit carotid bodies were studied with the patch-clamp technique in the whole-cell and on the cell-attached configuration. Cells exhibiting resting potentials of about −40 mV under normoxic conditions ( P O 2 : 20 kPa), depolarized during hypoxia ( P O 2 : 3.7 kPa). Hypoxia did not affect inward Ca 2+ currents but inactivated outward K + currents in voltage-clamp experiments. Single-channel currents recorded for the cell-attached mode showed a slope conductance of about 137 pS and a 0 mV reversal potential under symmetrical K + concentration (140 mM). The open-probability ( P o) of the single channel was dependent on the extracellular P O 2 . These data demonstrate the existence of a P O 2 -sensitive K + channel in type-I cells, which may account for cell depolarization and the resulting chemosensory response.
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