Effects of Cu2+ on characteristic of SV currents

Applying the patch-clamp technique to vacuoles from Radish we studied the effects of Cu²⁺ on Slow Vaculolar (SV) current’s characteristic. Our results show that Cu²⁺ in bath solution at higher concentration inhibits SV currents and the percentage of inhibition increases with increasing concentration and changes with different voltage. When at lower concentration, Cu²⁺ significantly promotes the SV currents and the promotion ratio decrease with increasing voltage. At the same time, the time constants of activation become lesser after adding Cu²⁺. These results show that there may be some Cu²⁺ binding sites on SV channels and binding to which can change SV current’s characteristic.