Action of surfactants on rubidium loss from frog sciatic nerves

¹ Department of Physiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado

Two cationic as well as two anionic and one non-ionized surfactants were examined for their actions in altering the loss of rubidium from frog sciatic nerves that had been previously incubated in buffered Ringer's solution containing a trace of Rb⁸⁶. All four of the ionic surfactants greatly accelerated the desaturation of Rb⁸⁶ as compared to the rate of loss from normal nerves which were not exposed to a surfactant. The non-ionic surfactant had very little effect on the Rb loss. There is excellent correlation between the relative effectiveness of the five surfactants in altering the Rb loss and their previously determined action in reducing the A-potential. The data support the hypothesis that cytolytically active surfactants exert disruptive effects on the functional status and molecular morphology of permeability barriers in a nerve trunk such as the frog sciatic.

Key Words: surface-active agents • rubidium efflux

Submitted on October 11, 1963