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Plant Physiology 54:712-716 (1974)
© 1974 American Society of Plant Biologists

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Articles

The Effect of Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide on the Electrical Potential and Resistance of Cell Membranes 1,2

W. Peter Anderson3, Donald L. Hendrix4 and Noe Higinbotham

a Department of Botany, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99163

The rapid reduction in cell electropotentials induced by metabolic inhibitors is strong evidence for an electrogenic ion pump. According to Ohm's law, such a depolarization might be explained by a reduction in electric current, I, with unidirectional transport of a given ion, or an increase in permeability (decrease in resistance). With cells of etiolated seedlings of Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska and Zea mays cv. Golden Bantam, carbon monoxide inhibition, which occurs only in the dark and is readily reversed by light, allows repeated cycling of depolarization and repolarization; there is no effect on cell membrane resistance. In contrast, cyanide inhibition results in a marked increase in membrane electrical resistance; with cyanide following repeated pulses of current used in measuring cell membrane resistance, the resistance eventually (about 10 minutes) shows an abrupt drop as in the "punch-through" effect reported by H. G. L. Coster (1965. Biophys. J. 5: 669-686).

3 Present address: Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., Australia 2600.

4 Present address: Department of Biology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77004.

1 The research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant GB 19201, Amendment 1, and in part by funds provided for biological and medical research by the State of Washington Measure No. 171.

2 Dedicated to the memory of Milton Zucker.






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