Internal perfusion of crayfish, giant axons: action of tannic acid, DDT, and TEA

Crayfish giant axons remain viable following internal perfusion with a mixture of fluoride and citrate salts. The relative favorability of various internal anions, and the dependence of resting and action potentials on internal cations are both similar to results on internally perfused squid axons. TEA widens the falling phase of the spike only from inside the axon, while DDT is active from either side of the membrane. Records of impedance changes show that effects of TEA and DDT on components of ionic conductances are similar to those found in other axons by voltage clamp measurements. Tannic acid perfused internally at a concentration of the order of 10 μM produces spontaneous activity, and a progressive increase in spike width. After 30 minutes, action potentials are “cardiac” type and are up to several minutes in duration. Records of impedance changes, and data from rapid changes in external ionic concentrations, suggest that the plateau phase of the spike is due to a maintained increase in sodium conductance. Since tannic acid is capable of crosslinking proteins and “rigidifying” protein monolayers, it is suggested that its effects on the axon may be the result of an interference with a conformational change in a membrane protein or protein-phospholipid complex during excitation.