Abstract
Ion channels in the cilia of olfactory neurons are part of the transduction machinery of olfaction. Odorant stimuli have been shown to induce a biphasic current response, consisting of a cAMP-activated current and a Ca2+ -activated CI current. We have developed a noise analysis method to study ion channels in leaky cables, such as the olfactory cilium, under non-space-clamp conditions. We performed steady-state noise analysis on ligand-induced currents in excised cilia, voltage-clamped at input and internally perfused with cAMP or Ca2+. The cAMP-activated channels analyzed by this method gave results similar to those of single-channel recordings (γ = 8.3 pS). Single-channel currents have not yet been recorded for the Ca2+- activated CI channels. Using our noise analysis method, we estimate a unit conductance, γ = 0.8 pS, for these channels. The density of channels was found to be ~70 channels/μm2 for both channel species.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1193-1203 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Biophysical journal |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1997 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics