The cyclotron resonance model for channel ion transport in weak magnetic fields is extended to include damping losses. The conductivity tensor is obtained for different electric field configurations, including the circuital field E, normal to the channel axis. The conductivity behavior close to the cyclotron resonance frequency wc is compared to existing Ca*+-efflux data in the literature. A collision time of ,023 s results from this comparison under the assumption that K+ ions are transiting in a 0.35 G field. We estimate a mean kinetic energy of 3.5 eV for this ion at resonance. This model leads to discrete modes of vibration (eigenfrequencies) in the ion-lattice interaction, such that w, = nu,.
The presence of such harmonics is compatible with recent results by Blackman et al. [1985b] and McLeod et al. [1986] with the interesting exception that even modes do not appear in their observations, whereas the present model has no restriction on n. This harmonic formalism is also consistent with another reported phenomenon, that of quantized multiple conductances in single patch-clamped channels.