Kinetics of permeability changes induced by electric impulses in chromaffin granules

Summary

Electric field pulses, ranging in intensity from 20 to 50 kV/cm and in duration from 10 to 40 μsec, caused a transient increase in the membrane permeability of chromaffin granules from the bovine adrenal medulla, that led to partial release of granule soluble constituents. This transient permeability change was long-lived, as compared to the pulse duration, and the main part of material efflux occurred after the termination of the pulse. During the latter phase the temporarily increased permeability decayed to its original value, in the absence of the electric field. This indicated that the structural perturbation induced in the membrane was transient and apparently reversible. The release event was characterized by a field-dependent permeability coefficient ranging from 2×10⁻⁴ cm/sec at 30 kV/cm to 3×10⁻³ cm/sec at 50 kV/cm. The resealing process of the membrane could be described by two relaxation times, both of which decreased with increasing field strength. τ₁ varied from about 3.0 msec at 30 kV/cm to less than 2.0 msec at 50 kV/cm, while τ₂ varied from about 100 to about 40 msec in the same interval of field strength. The distribution in the degree of filling of granules that had been partially depleted by an electric field pulse indicated that the population could be considered homogeneous with respect to release.