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Current Inactivation (current + inactivation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Individual variation and hormonal modulation of a sodium channel , subunit in the electric organ correlate with variation in a social signal

DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY, Issue 10 2007
He Liu
Abstract The sodium channel ,1 subunit affects sodium channel gating and surface density, but little is known about the factors that regulate ,1 expression or its participation in the fine control of cellular excitability. In this study we examined whether graded expression of the ,1 subunit contributes to the gradient in sodium current inactivation, which is tightly controlled and directly related to a social behavior, the electric organ discharge (EOD), in a weakly electric fish Sternopygus macrurus. We found the mRNA and protein levels of ,1 in the electric organ both correlate with EOD frequency. We identified a novel mRNA splice form of this gene and found the splicing preference for this novel splice form also correlates with EOD frequency. Androgen implants lowered EOD frequency and decreased the ,1 mRNA level but did not affect splicing. Coexpression of each splice form in Xenopus oocytes with either the human muscle sodium channel gene, hNav1.4, or a Sternopygus ortholog, smNav1.4b, sped the rate of inactivation of the sodium current and shifted the steady-state inactivation toward less negative membrane potentials. The translational product of the novel mRNA splice form lacks a previously identified important tyrosine residue but still functions normally. The properties of the fish , and coexpressed ,1 subunits in the oocyte replicate those of the electric organ's endogenous sodium current. These data highlight the role of ion channel , subunits in regulating cellular excitability. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2007. [source]

A new class of neurotoxin from wasp venom slows inactivation of sodium current

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 6 2000
Yoshinori Sahara
Abstract The effects of ,-pompilidotoxin (,-PMTX), a new neurotoxin isolated from the venom of a solitary wasp, were studied on the neuromuscular synapses in lobster walking leg and the rat trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons. Paired intracellular recordings from the presynaptic axon terminals and the innervating lobster leg muscles revealed that ,-PMTX induced long bursts of action potentials in the presynaptic axon, which resulted in facilitated excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission. The action of ,-PMTX was distinct from that of other known facilitatory presynaptic toxins, including sea anemone toxins and ,-scorpion toxins, which modify the fast inactivation of Na+ current. We further characterized the action of ,-PMTX on Na+ channels by whole-cell recordings from rat trigeminal neurons. We found that ,-PMTX slowed the Na+ channels inactivation process without changing the peak current,voltage relationship or the activation time course of tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive Na+ currents, and that ,-PMTX had voltage-dependent effects on the rate of recovery from Na+ current inactivation and deactivating tail currents. The results suggest that ,-PMTX slows or blocks conformational changes required for fast inactivation of the Na+ channels on the extracellular surface. The simple structure of ,-PMTX, consisting of 13 amino acids, would be advantageous for understanding the functional architecture of Na+ channel protein. [source]

Voltage-gated sodium channel isoform-specific effects of pompilidotoxins

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2010
Emanuele Schiavon
Pompilidotoxins (PMTXs, , and ,) are small peptides consisting of 13 amino acids purified from the venom of the solitary wasps Anoplius samariensis (,-PMTX) and Batozonellus maculifrons (,-PMTX). They are known to facilitate synaptic transmission in the lobster neuromuscular junction, and to slow sodium channel inactivation. By using ,-PMTX, ,-PMTX and four synthetic analogs with amino acid changes, we conducted a thorough study of the effects of PMTXs on sodium current inactivation in seven mammalian voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) isoforms and one insect VGSC (DmNav1). By evaluating three components of which the inactivating current is composed (fast, slow and steady-state components), we could distinguish three distinct groups of PMTX effects. The first group concerned the insect and Nav1.6 channels, which showed a large increase in the steady-state current component without any increase in the slow component. Moreover, the dose-dependent increase in this steady-state component was correlated with the dose-dependent decrease in the fast component. A second group of effects concerned the Nav1.1, Nav1.2, Nav1.3 and Nav1.7 isoforms, which responded with a large increase in the slow component, and showed only a small steady-state component. As with the first group of effects, the slow component was dose-dependent and correlated with the decrease in the fast component. Finally, a third group of effects concerned Nav1.4 and Nav1.5, which did not show any change in the slow or steady-state component. These data shed light on the complex and intriguing behavior of VGSCs in response to PMTXs, helping us to better understand the molecular determinants explaining isoform-specific effects. [source]

BLOCK OF Na+ AND K+ CURRENTS IN RAT VENTRICULAR MYOCYTES BY QUINACAINOL AND QUINIDINE

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 1-2 2005
Michael K Pugsley
SUMMARY 1.,The electrophysiological actions of quinacainol were investigated on sodium (INa), transient outward (ito) and sustained-outward plateau (iKsus) potassium currents in rat isolated cardiac myocytes using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique and compared with quinidine. 2.,Quinacainol blocked sodium currents in a concentration-dependent manner and with a potency similar to that of quinidine (mean (±SEM) EC50 50 ± 12 vs 95 ± 25 µmol/L for quinidine and quinacainol, respectively). However, quinacainol had a considerably prolonged onset and recovery from block compared with quinidine. 3.,Neither quinacainol nor quinidine significantly changed the steady state voltage dependence of activation of sodium currents. Quinidine produced a hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence for sodium current inactivation, but no such shift was observed with quinacainol at doses that produced a substantial current block. 4.,Although quinacainol did not effectively block voltage-dependent potassium currents, even at concentrations as high as 1.5 mmol/L, quinidine, at a half-maximal sodium channel-blocking concentration, reduced peak ito current amplitude, increased the rate of inactivation of ito and blocked iKsus. 5.,These results indicate that quinacainol, a quinidine analogue, blocks sodium currents in cardiac myocytes with little effect on ito or iKsus potassium currents, which suggests that quinacainol may be exerting class 1c anti-arrhythmic actions. [source]