The inhibitory effects of dantrolene on action potential-induced calcium transients in cultured rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.

We investigated the actions of dantrolene Ca(2+)-induced on Ca(2+)-release (CICR) evoked by action potentials in cultured rat sensory neurons. The effect of dantrolene on action potential after-depolarization and voltage-activated calcium currents was studied in cultured neonatal rat dorsal root ganglion cells (DRG) using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Depolarizing current injection evoked action potentials and depolarizing after-potentials, which are activated as a result of CICR following a single action potential in some cells. The type of after-potentials was determined by inducing action potentials from the resting membrane potential. Extracellular application of dantrolene (10 microM) abolished after-depolarizations without affecting action potential properties. Furthermore, dantrolene significantly reduced repetitive action potentials after depolarizing current injection into these neurons, but had no significant effect on the steady-state current voltage relationship of calcium currents in these neurons. We conclude that dantrolene inhibits the induction of action potential after depolarizations by inhibiting CICR in cultured rat sensory neurons.