Potassium fluxes across the blood brain barrier of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana

Potassium fluxes across the blood-brain barrier of the cockroach Periplaneta americana were measured using the scanning ion-selective microelectrode technique. In salines containing 15 mM or 25 mMK(+), an efflux of K(+) from the ganglia of isolated nerve cords was counterbalanced by an influx across the connectives. Metabolic inhibition with CN(-) resulted in an increase in K(+) efflux across both the ganglia and the connectives. Depletion of K(+) by chilling the nerve cords in K(+)-free saline was associated with subsequent K(+) influx across the connectives in K(+)-replete saline at room temperature. There were dramatic increases in K(+) efflux across both ganglia and connectives when the nerve cords were exposed to the pore-forming antibiotic amphotericin B. K(+) fluxes across the ventral nerve cord were also altered when paracellular leakage was augmented by transient exposure to 3M urea. K(+) efflux was reduced by the K(+) channel blockers Ba(2+) and tetraethylammonium or by exposure to Ca(2+)-free saline and K(+) efflux from the ganglia was increased by addition of ouabain to the bathing saline. The results provide direct support for a model proposing that K(+) is cycled through a current loop between the ganglia and the connectives and that both the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and K(+) channels are implicated in extracellular K(+) homeostasis within the central nervous system.