Single sodium channels from the squid giant axon

Abstract

Since the work of A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley (1952. J. Physiol. [Lond.].117:500-544) the squid giant axon has been considered the classical preparation for the study of voltage-dependent sodium and potassium channels. In this preparation much data have been gathered on macroscopic and gating currents but no single sodium channel data have been available. This paper reports patch clamp recording of single sodium channel events from the cut-open squid axon. It is shown that the single channel conductance in the absence of external divalent ions is approximately 14 pS, similar to sodium channels recorded from other preparations, and that their kinetic properties are consistent with previous results on gating and macroscopic currents obtained from the perfused squid axon preparation.