Voltage-gated K<sup>+</sup>currents in mouse articular chondrocytes regulate membrane potential
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Membrane currents and resting potential of isolated primary mouse articular chondrocytes maintained in monolayer cell culture for 1-9 days were recorded using patch clamp methods. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that the most abundantly expressed transcript of voltage-gated K(+) channels was for K(V)1.6, and immunological methods confirmed the expression of K(V)1.6 α-subunit proteins. These chondrocytes expressed a large time- and potential-dependent, Ca(2+)-independent 'delayed rectifier' K(+) current. Steady-state activation was well-fit by a Boltzmann function with a threshold near -50 mV, and a half-activation potential of -34.5 mV. The current was 50% blocked by 1.48 mM tetraethylammonium, 0.66 mM 4-aminopyridine and 20.6 nM α-dendrotoxin. The current inactivated very slowly at membrane potentials in the range of the resting potential of the chondrocytes. Resting membrane potential of the chondrocytes at room temperature (19-21°C) and in 5 mM external K(+) was -46.4 ± 1.3 mV (mean ± s.e.m; n = 23), near the 'foot' of the activation curve of this K(+) current. Resting potential was depolarized by an average of 4.2 ± 0.8 mV by 25 mM TEA, which blocked about 95% of the K(+) current. At a membrane potential of -50 mV, the apparent time constant of inactivation (tau(in)) was 37.9 s, and the 'steady-state' current level was 19% of that at a holding potential of -90 mV; at -40 mV, tau(in) was 20.3 s, and 'steady-state' current was 5% of that at -90 mV. These results demonstrate that in these primary cultured, mouse articular chondrocytes steady-state activation of a voltage-gated K(+) current contributes to resting membrane potential. However, this current is also likely to have a significant physiological role in repolarizing the chondrocyte following depolarizing stimuli that might occur in conditions of membrane stretch. For example, activation of TRP('transient receptor potential') non-specific cation channels in these cells during cyclic loading and unloading of the joint cartilage, or in response to hypertonic challenge is expected to result in depolarization and Ca(2+) entry. Potassium currents are required to maintain the resting membrane potential.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".