Patch-clamp methods were used to investigate the areal density and spatial location of cyclic GMP-activated channels in the surface membrane of salamander rod outer segments. 2. The density of active channels (i.e. channels able to respond to cyclic GMP) in patches excised from outer segments was determined from the number of active channels, N, and the membrane area, A. N was estimated from the current induced by a saturating concentration of cyclic GMP, while A was estimated from the electrical capacitance of the patch. 3. In patches excised from forty-one isolated outer segments prepared in the light the active channel density varied over a remarkable range: 0.34-629 microns-2, with a mean of 166 microns-2. Density was not correlated with patch area in this or any of the conditions studied. 4. The spatial distribution of open channels on the outer segment of a transducing rod was measured by recording the local dark current at various positions with a loose-patch electrode. The apparent density of open channels varied by only about +/- 50% around the circumference of the outer segment and up and down its length. This indicates that the wide range of densities in excised patches did not result from sampling a non-uniform spatial distribution of channels. 5. Patches excised from sixteen dark-adapted whole cells with healthy appearances and saturating light responses of normal size had active channel densities of 1.1-200 microns-2, with a mean of 60 microns-2. Patches from twenty light-adapted whole cells had similar densities. Many densities from the whole cells were much lower than expected. This, and the wide variation in densities, suggests that obtaining a patch often lowered the density of active channels. The number of channels in a patch was quite stable from 1 s to 30 min after excision, ruling out progressive denaturation or adsorption of channels to the glass as a cause for this effect. 6. The mean active channel density in patches excised from whole cells was lower with calcium present in the external solution than with calcium absent (80 vs. 152 microns-2, n = 36 and 30 respectively). 7. We conclude that copies of the channel protein were present at a density of at least 650 microns-2 in the surface membrane of the outer segment and that the distribution of channels was fairly uniform on a 1 micron scale.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
