Na+ and Cl- conductances in the apical membrane of respiratory epithelial cells are essential for electrolyte and water transport in the airways. Apart from the well described defect in adenosine 3' : 5' cyclic monophosphate-(cAMP-) dependent activation of Cl- conductances in cystic fibrosis (CF), an increased Na+ conductance has also been reported from transepithelial measurements. In the present experiments we tried to identify these conductances in nasal epithelial cells using patch-clamp and microelectrode techniques. With these methods we found identical and relatively low membrane voltages of about -36 mV in both freshly isolated and primary cultured normal and CF nasal epithelial cells. A Cl- conductance could be activated by cAMP in normal (deltaG = 0.3 +/- 0.8 nS, n = 10) but not in CF (deltaG = 0.3 +/- 0.1 nS, n = 11) cells, whereas Ca2+-dependent Cl- currents activated by adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and bradykinin were present in both types of cells. Cell-attached membrane patches from stimulated cells did not reveal discernible single-channel events when activated with any of the agonists. A Na+ conductance was also detected in freshly isolated ciliated respiratory cells in impalement studies, as evidenced by the hyperpolarization induced by 10 micromol/l amiloride (deltaV = -5.2 +/- 0.6 mV, n = 56) and when Na+ was replaced in the bath by N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) (deltaV = -5.7 +/- 0.9 mV, n = 14). In whole-cell patch-clamp experiments, the amiloride-induced hyperpolarization was significantly larger in CF (deltaV = 9.7 +/- 2.4 mV, n = 22) when compared to normal (deltaV = -3.3 +/- 0.9 mV, n = 27) cells in short-term culture. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis of normal respiratory cells identified messenger RNA of both the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as well as the human epithelial Na+ channel (hNaCh). The present experiments confirm the absence of a cAMP-dependent Cl- conductance in CF respiratory epithelial cells and support previous findings obtained in transepithelial and microelectrode studies which indicate an increased Na+ conductance in respiratory epithelial cells from CF patients.