The complex impedances and impedance magnitude functions were obtained from neurons in in vitro slices of trigeminal root ganglia using frequency-domain analyses of intracellularly recorded voltage responses to specified oscillatory input currents. A neuronal model derived from linearized Hodgkin-Huxley-like equations was used to fit the complex impedance data. This procedure yielded estimates for membrane electrical properties. 2. Membrane resonance was observed in the impedance magnitude functions of all investigated neurons at their initial resting membrane potentials and was similar to that reported previously for trigeminal root ganglion neurons in vivo. Tetrodotoxin (10(-6) M), a Na+-channel blocker, applied in the bathing medium for 20 min produced only minor changes, if any, in the resonance, although gross impairment of Na+-spike electrogenesis was apparent in most of the neurons. Brief applications (1-5 min) of a K+-channel blocker, tetraethylammonium (TEA; 10(-2) M), increased the impedance magnitude and abolished, in a reversible manner, the resonant behavior. In all cases, the resonant frequency was decreased by TEA administration prior to total blockade of resonance. 3. The TEA-induced blockade of resonance was associated with decreases in the estimates of the membrane conductances, without significant alterations of input capacitance. A particularly large decrease was observed in Gr, the time-invariant resting conductance that includes a lumped leak conductance component. The voltage- and time-dependent conductance, GL, and associated relaxation time constant, tau u, also declined progressively during administration of TEA. 4. Systematic variations in the membrane potentials of trigeminal root ganglion neurons were produced by intracellular injections of long-lasting step currents with superposition of the oscillatory current stimuli, in order to assess the effects of TEA on the relationship of the electrical properties to the membrane potential. Applications of TEA led to a depolarizing shift in the dependence of the membrane property estimates, suggesting voltage-dependence of the effects of TEA on presumed K+ channels in the membrane. 5. These data suggest a primary involvement of K+ conductance in the genesis of membrane resonance. This electrical behavior or its ionic mechanism is a major modulator of the subthreshold electrical responsiveness of trigeminal root ganglion neurons.
