The Na/K pump, resting potential and selective permeability in canine Purkinje fibres at physiologic and room temperatures.

Abstract

All mammalian cells maintain a resting potential generated by ions moving down concentration gradients. In excitable cells, the inside potential is negative relative to outside. In order to maintain this electrochemical gradient, the sodium potassium (Na/K) pump actively transports out three sodium ions for every two potassium ions it brings in. This process generates a net outward current and thus hyperpolarizes the resting potential. I employed dihydroouabain (DHO) to inhibit the Na/K pump and thus measure its contribution to the resting potential. It contributed 9.0 mV at 34 degrees C and 3.8 mV at 25 degrees C. The PK/PNa ratios were calculated at both temperatures before and after subtracting the Na/K pump contribution. These ratios also suggested a decreased contribution of the Na/K pump under hypothermia. Taken together, these results suggest that the pump contribution to the resting potential is more significant at physiologic temperatures (34 degrees C) than at room temperature (25 degrees C), and that estimates of selective permeability can only be accurately obtained after assessing and eliminating the Na/K pump contribution to the resting potential.