Inactivation modifiers of Na+ currents and the gating of rat brain Na+ channels in planar lipid membranes

1991 ◽  
Vol 419 (5) ◽  
pp. 514-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Cukierman
Keyword(s):  
Rat Brain ◽  
Lipid Membranes ◽  
Na Channels ◽  
Na Currents ◽  
Planar Lipid Membranes

scholarly journals State-dependent Block of Wild-type and Inactivation-deficient Na+ Channels by Flecainide

2003 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ging Kuo Wang ◽  
Corinna Russell ◽  
Sho-Ya Wang
Keyword(s):  
Time Constant ◽  
Open Channel ◽  
Inhibitory Concentration ◽  
Antiarrhythmic Agent ◽  
Na Channels ◽  
Fast Inactivation ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Open Channel Block ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Na Currents

The antiarrhythmic agent flecainide appears beneficial for painful congenital myotonia and LQT-3/ΔKPQ syndrome. Both diseases manifest small but persistent late Na+ currents in skeletal or cardiac myocytes. Flecainide may therefore block late Na+ currents for its efficacy. To investigate this possibility, we characterized state-dependent block of flecainide in wild-type and inactivation-deficient rNav1.4 muscle Na+ channels (L435W/L437C/A438W) expressed with β1 subunits in Hek293t cells. The flecainide-resting block at −140 mV was weak for wild-type Na+ channels, with an estimated 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 365 μM when the cell was not stimulated for 1,000 s. At 100 μM flecainide, brief monitoring pulses of +30 mV applied at frequencies as low as 1 per 60 s, however, produced an ∼70% use-dependent block of peak Na+ currents. Recovery from this use-dependent block followed an exponential function, with a time constant over 225 s at −140 mV. Inactivated wild-type Na+ channels interacted with flecainide also slowly at −50 mV, with a time constant of 7.9 s. In contrast, flecainide blocked the open state of inactivation-deficient Na+ channels potently as revealed by its rapid time-dependent block of late Na+ currents. The IC50 for flecainide open-channel block at +30 mV was 0.61 μM, right within the therapeutic plasma concentration range; on-rate and off-rate constants were 14.9 μM−1s−1 and 12.2 s−1, respectively. Upon repolarization to −140 mV, flecainide block of inactivation-deficient Na+ channels recovered, with a time constant of 11.2 s, which was ∼20-fold faster than that of wild-type counterparts. We conclude that flecainide directly blocks persistent late Na+ currents with a high affinity. The fast-inactivation gate, probably via its S6 docking site, may further stabilize the flecainide-receptor complex in wild-type Na+ channels.

Ion channels in spinal cord astrocytes in vitro. I. Transient expression of high levels of Na+ and K+ channels

1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 985-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sontheimer ◽  
J. A. Black ◽  
B. R. Ransom ◽  
S. G. Waxman
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Membrane Potentials ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
K Channel ◽  
Na Channels ◽  
Patch Clamp Recording ◽  
K Channels ◽  
Na Currents ◽  
Channel Expression

1. Na+ and K+ channel expression was studied in cultured astrocytes derived from P--0 rat spinal cord using whole cell patch-clamp recording techniques. Two subtypes of astrocytes, pancake and stellate, were differentiated morphologically. Both astrocyte types showed Na+ channels and up to three forms of K+ channels at certain stages of in vitro development. 2. Both astrocyte types showed pronounced K+ currents immediately after plating. Stellate but not pancake astrocytes additionally showed tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive inward Na+ currents, which displayed properties similar to neuronal Na+ currents. 3. Within 4-5 days in vitro (DIV), pancake astrocytes lost K(+)-current expression almost completely, but acquired Na+ currents in high densities (estimated channel density approximately 2-8 channels/microns2). Na+ channel expression in these astrocytes is approximately 10- to 100-fold higher than previously reported for glial cells. Concomitant with the loss of K+ channels, pancake astrocytes showed significantly depolarized membrane potentials (-28.1 +/- 15.4 mV, mean +/- SD), compared with stellate astrocytes (-62.5 +/- 11.9 mV, mean +/- SD). 4. Pancake astrocytes were capable of generating action-potential (AP)-like responses under current clamp, when clamp potential was more negative than resting potential. Both depolarizing and hyperpolarizing current injections elicited overshooting responses, provided that cells were current clamped to membrane potentials more negative than -70 mV. Anode-break spikes were evoked by large hyperpolarizations (less than -150 mV). AP-like responses in these hyperpolarized astrocytes showed a time course similar to neuronal APs under conditions of low K+ conductance. 5. In stellate astrocytes, AP-like responses were not observed, because the K+ conductance always exceeded Na+ conductance by at least a factor of 3. Thus stellate spinal cord astrocyte membranes are stabilized close to EK as previously reported for hippocampal astrocytes. 6. It is concluded that spinal cord pancake astrocytes are capable of synthesizing Na+ channels at densities that can, under some conditions, support electrogenesis. In vivo, however, AP-like responses are unlikely to occur because the cells' resting potential is too depolarized to allow current activation. Thus the absence of electrogenesis in astrocytes may be explained by two mechanisms: 1) a low Na-to-K conductance ratio, as in stellate spinal cord astrocytes and in other previously studied astrocyte preparations; or, 2) as described in detail in the companion paper, a mismatch between the h infinity curve and resting potential, which results in Na+ current inactivation in spinal cord pancake astrocytes.

Different voltage dependence of transient and persistent Na+ currents is compatible with modal-gating hypothesis for sodium channels

1994 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 2562-2565 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Brown ◽  
P. C. Schwindt ◽  
W. E. Crill
Keyword(s):  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Voltage Dependence ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Na Channel ◽  
Na Channels ◽  
Activation Curve ◽  
Neocortical Neurons ◽  
Na Currents ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
The Difference

1. These experiments tested the hypothesis that the differing voltage dependence of the transient (INa) and persistent (INaP) Na+ currents in neocortical neurons results from the state of inactivation of one type of Na+ channel rather than from the existence of different types of Na+ channels. This question was examined in acutely isolated pyramidal neurons from the sensorimotor cortex of rats by using papain to remove inactivation from INa and comparing the resulting activation curve with that of INaP. 2. In control cells, INaP activated at more negative potentials than INa. Inclusion of papain in the recording pipette removed inactivation from INa and caused the INa activation curve to be shifted leftward to the position of the curve for INaP measured in control cells. Papain greatly increased both INa amplitude and the time to reach peak INa during smaller depolarizations, whereas the difference between control and test currents was reduced during large depolarizations. 3. We conclude that differences in the voltage dependence of INa and INaP activation does not provide sufficient evidence that these currents flow through separate sets of Na+ channels. Instead, our results are consistent with the idea that INaP largely arises from a fraction of the transient Na+ channels that intermittently lose their inactivation.

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