Rubidium ions and the gating of delayed rectifier potassium channels of frog skeletal muscle.

1. Unitary currents were measured through delayed rectifier potassium channels of frog skeletal muscle, under conditions where either potassium or rubidium ions carried current. 2. Unitary currents were reduced in amplitude when Rb+ was the charge carrier, indicating that Rb+ permeated the channel less readily than did K+. On the other hand permeability ratios (PRb/PK) measured from the change in reversal potential upon ionic substitution were 0.92 for the external and 0.67 for the internal mouth of the channel. 3. Ensemble-averaged currents activated under depolarization along a similarly S-shaped time course whether K+ or Rb+ carried current, though slightly more slowly in Rb+. However, under repolarization to a negative level, tail currents were prolonged about tenfold in Rb+. 4. The duration of channel opening was substantially prolonged in Rb+. The distribution of open times was fitted by a single exponential whether K+ or Rb+ was the charge carrier, indicating a single open state. But the mean open time, averaged over all voltages investigated, was 2.65 times greater in Rb+. 5. The prolongation in Rb+ of tail currents under repolarization was associated with increases in the number of openings per burst and in the number of bursts during each tail. 6. The implications of these results for channel gating are discussed. It is argued that an early step in channel activation is more voltage dependent than later steps.