Chloride channels in cultured glomus cells of the rat carotid body

As part of our investigations on the chemosensory mechanisms in the rat carotid body, we are studying the physiology of the parenchymal glomus cells by the patch-clamp technique. Here we characterize a large-conductance chloride channel (approximately 296 pS) with random open and closed kinetics in inside-out patches of cultured glomus cells. The open-state probability (Po; mean = 0.61) was hardly affected by membrane potential (-50 to +50 mV) …