Strontium, nifedipine and 4-aminopyridine modify the time course of the action potential in cells from rat ventricular muscle.

Action potentials, initiated by brief depolarizing pulses, were recorded from single cells isolated from rat ventricular muscle. These action potentials showed a rapid upstroke to about +30 mV, followed by two phases of repolarization referred to as the early and late phases of the action potential. Nifedipine (1 microM), which blocks the second inward current (Isi) carried by Ca in these cells, shortened the early phase. Substitution of strontium for calcium in the solution bathing the cells, a procedure which prolongs Isi, prolonged the early phase. 4-Aminopyridine (1 mM), which inhibits transient outward current, prolonged the early phase with either calcium or strontium in the external solution. It is concluded that both Isi and transient outward current contribute to the early phase of the action potential in rat ventricular muscle. It is also suggested that Isi does not directly contribute to the late phase, since the characteristics of the late phase are not compatible with such a role, and the possibility of additional inward current is investigated in the accompanying paper (Mitchell et al., 1984).