Structure of the squid axon membrane as derived from charge-pulse relaxation studies in the presence of absorbed lipophilic ions.

Abstract

Charge-pulse relaxation studies were performed on squid giant axons in the presence of membrane absorbed lipophilic anions, dipicrylamine (DPA) and tetraphenylborate (TPhB), and of specific blockers of sodium and potassium active currents. With the instrumentation used in this work a time resolution of 5 to 10 μsec was easily obtained without any averaging, although the voltage relaxations were always smaller than 5 mV in amplitude in order to keep the membrane voltage in a range where the used theory cyn be linearized. Two well distinguishable linear relaxations were invariably observed in the presence of the lipophilic anions. With DPA the fast relaxation (time constants between 8 and 70 μsec) was attributed to the redistribution of the lipophilic ions within the membrane following the change in membrane potential. The long relaxation process (time constant in the millisecond range) corresponds to the normal voltage relaxation of the passive squid axon membrane slightly modified by the process of redistribution of the extrinsic ions. The results support the same model for the translocation of lipophilic ions within the nerve membrane proposed earlier for artificial lipid bilayers. The fit of the data with a single barrier model yields the translocation rate constant,K, and the total concentration,N t , of membrane absorbed ions, from which the membrane-solution partition coefficient, β, can be derived. Both for DPA and TPhB,K had values close to those measured for solvent-free artificial lipid bilayers. The axon membrane appears as fluid mosaic membrane with a thickness of about 2.5 nm for the lipid bilayer part. In axons treated with DPA the dependence of relaxation data upon the holding membrane potential, $$\bar E_m$$ , provided information on the asymmetry of the membrane structure. The data were best fitted by assuming that nearly 100% of the membrane potential drops between the two free energy minima where the extrinsic ions are located, indicating that these minima lie very close to the membrane-solution interfaces, in the region of the phospholipid polar heads. The asymmetry voltage,E o, at which the extrinsic ions are expected to be equally distributed between the two sides of the membrane was found to range between −35 and −65 mV (inside negative), depending on the assumed shape of the free energy barrier describing the ion translocation process. This voltage is of the same sign and of the same order of magnitude as the equilibrium voltages for the open-close transitions of the gates of sodium and potassium channels, suggesting that all these voltages result from the same membrane asymmetry. A similar analogy was found between the asymmetry of the free energy barrier which best fitted DPA relaxation data and the asymmetrical voltage dependence of the gating of ionic channels. Our data were best fitted by assuming that about 70% of the potential drop occurs between the free energy minimum on the intracellular membrane face and the top of the barrier.