Existence of memory in ion channels.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To explore the existence of memory in Ca(2+)-dependent K+ channels of cultured aortic smooth muscle cells (ASMC) and voltage-dependent K+ channels of clonal pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. METHODS: Calculating the sample auto-correlation functions based on the digitized signals or the 0-1 series corresponding to closing and opening of the channels after routine evaluation, rather than the sequence of sojourn times. RESULTS: The sample auto-correlations showed a decreasing trend with elapse of time, stable to repeated observations under the same conditions and sensitive to treatments. CONCLUSION: The attribute of memory exists in some single channels as an intrinsic feature of them, independent of any extrinsic assumptions on missing observations due to limited time resolution.