Two types of chloride channel in the basolateral membrane of vestibular dark cells

Abstract

Transepithelial and cell membrane potential measurements have suggested that the basolateral membrane of gerbil vestibular dark cells contains Cl- conductive pathways. We used the patch clamp technique to search this membrane for Cl- conductive channels which could account for the macroscopic observations. Two types of Cl- channel were found in both cell-attached and excised membrane patches. One type was found with an incidence of 19% and had a single-channel conductance of 95 +/- 1 pS (N = 20) in symmetrical Cl- solutions. The other type was found with an incidence of 3% and had a large single-channel conductance of 360 +/- 11 pS (N = 12) in symmetrical Cl- solutions (LC-type Cl- channel). Both types of Cl- channel had linear current-voltage relations and at least 2 substates. In asymmetrical Cl- solutions (gluconate substitution) the current-voltage relations fit the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz current equation for Cl-. Neither channel was blocked by Zn2+, NPPB, DIDS, DNDS or quinine. The 95 pS channel exhibited a spontaneous 'rundown' of its activity within 1 to 10 min after being excised. This rundown was not reversed by the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A. Channel activity was not dependent on the presence of cytosolic Ca2+ nor markedly altered by variations in cytosolic pH between 6.5 and 8.0. The two Cl- channels were distinguished by the membrane voltage ranges in which they were active and by their anion selectivity. The open probability of the 95 pS channel was insensitive to voltage and the anions NO3-, I- and Br- were only half as permeable as Cl-. By contrast, the LC-type Cl- channel was mostly active between about +/- 30 mV and equally permeable to NO3-, I-, Br- and Cl-. The 95 pS Cl- channel may account for the observed transepithelial and intracellular voltage responses to Cl- concentration steps and provide the path for the recirculation of Cl- across the basolateral membrane. The LC-type Cl- channel shows the same lack of anion discrimination as the anion pathway activated during hyposmotic challenge.