Fig. 1
Effects of membrane stretch of neuronal membrane at the node of Ranvier (NR) of rat sensory nerve fiber. A Bright-field image showing patch-clamp recordings at an NR of Aβ-afferent nerve in ex vivo sciatic nerve preparation. B Left: recording setting of single-channel activity. Right: traces illustrating IKleak single-channel currents at different intensities of membrane stretch on the nodal membrane. Summary of IKleak single-channel conductance (C), single-channel events (D), and open probability (E) at different intensities of membrane stretch (n = 7). F–H Left: recording setting under the whole-cell patch-clamp. Right: Traces illustrating currents recorded at NRs by voltage steps (F), I–V curves of inactivating currents (G), and whole-cell conductance of IKleak (H) following intra-pipette application of 0 mmHg (n = 9) and 10 mmHg pressure (n = 5), 0 mmHg pressure with Ba2+ (n = 5), and + 10 mmHg pressure with Ba2+ (n = 5). Traces illustrate typical action potentials recorded at NRs (I), input resistance (J), resting membrane potential (K), rheobase (L) following intra-pipette application of 0 mmHg (n = 7) and + 10 mmHg pressure (n = 5), 0 mmHg pressure with Ba2+ (n = 5), and + 10 mmHg pressure with Ba2+ (n = 5). Arrow indicates NR. Data represent mean ± SEM; ns, not significantly different; ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test