Potassium currents of pear-shaped hair cells in relation to their location in frog crista ampullaris.

Voltage-dependent K+ currents in pear-shaped hair cells of the frog crista ampullaris were investigated in thin slice preparations using the whole-cell variant of the patch-clamp technique. Microscopy observation revealed that pear-shaped cells are located in intermediate and peripheral regions of the crista, whereas they are absent in the central region. Voltage-clamp recordings in cells from the peripheral regions revealed that the total outward K+ current could be separated pharmacologically into three distinct components: a A-type K+ current (IA); an inactivating calcium-activated K+ current (IK(Ca)) and a delayed rectifier K+ current (IK). IK and IK(Ca) exhibited similar magnitude and accounted for most of the membrane cell conductance. The same experimental protocol applied to cells from the intermediate regions showed the presence of a large and sustained IK(Ca) which represented 95% of the total outward current. In this region IA was absent. The present results demonstrated that pear-shaped hair cells located in two discrete regions of frog crista ampullaris exhibit a different complement of voltage-dependent conductances, suggesting that they can play a different role in processing the natural stimulus.