Basic proteins and the potassium movements and phosphates of cerebral tissues

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Abstract
Guinea-pig cerebral cortex was maintained in vitro and its content of potassium salts and phosphocreatine measured under normal conditions, immediately after applying electrical pulses and during subsequent recovery. Protamine and histone sulphates (0.1 mg./ml.) did not affect the loss of potassium induced by pulses, but inhibited recovery of potassium. This inhibition was removed by gangliosides and by suramin. Higher concentrations of protamine diminished tissue potassium in the absence of pulses. Protamine (0-1-0-4 mg./ml.) was without effect on phosphocreatine in the absence of pulses, but in their presence it preserved a large part of the phosphocreatine from the loss normally caused by pulses. Protamine and histone are considered to act as a mechanism which utilizes a major part of the energy-rich phosphate of the tissue in ion transport, and suggestions are made about the nature of this mechanism.