Voltage-gated sodium (Na(v)) channels in cardiomyocytes are localized in specialized membrane domains that optimize their functions in propagating action potentials across cell junctions and in stimulating voltage-gated calcium channels located in T tubules. Mutation of the ankyrin-binding site of Na(v)1.5, the principal Na(v) channel in the heart, was previously known to cause cardiac arrhythm...

Johannessen M, Ramachandran S, Riemer L, Ramos-Serrano A, Ruoho AE, Jackson MB. Voltage-gated sodium channel modulation by -receptors in cardiac myocytes and heterologous systems. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 296: C1049–C1057, 2009. First published March 11, 2009; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00431.2008.—The -receptor, a broadly distributed integral membrane protein with a novel structure, is known to modu...

Clustering of voltage-gated Na+ channels is critical for the fast saltatory conduction of action potentials in vertebrate myelinated axons. However, the mechanisms responsible for the generation and maintenance of Na+ channel clustering are not well understood. In this study we have raised an antibody against the cloned SCAP-1 voltage-gated Na+ channel of the marine invertebrate Aplysia califor...

Many of us were taught in high school biology that the action potential waveform in nerves and other excitable tissues was generated by an initial rapid influx of external Na(+) ions across the plasma membrane, followed by an outward movement of intracellular K(+) ions. The former event, mediated by voltage-gated Na(+) channels, is responsible for the fast depolarizing upstroke of the action po...

Sea anemones produce a myriad of toxic peptides and proteins of which a large group acts on voltage-gated Na+ channels. However, in comparison to other organisms, their venoms and toxins are poorly studied. Most of the known voltage-gated Na+ channel toxins isolated from sea anemone venoms act on neurotoxin receptor site 3 and inhibit the inactivation of these channels. Furthermore, it seems th...

been given different names, so that there are multiple Sodium Channels synonyms for many of sodium channel isoforms. To eliminate confusion resulting from the multiplicity of names, we propose a standardized nomenclature for Voltage-gated sodium channels are critical elements of voltage-gated sodium channels (Table 1). This nomen-action potential initiation and propagation in excitable clature ...

PURPOSE The sense of vision in humans is robust, and visual flickering is rarely experienced. To investigate this mechanism, electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques were used on human cone and rod photoreceptors. METHODS Voltage-gated currents were recorded using the patch-clamp technique on isolated human cones, and especially their voltage-gated Na+ currents were analyzed i...

Four novel peptide toxins that act on voltage-gated sodium channels have been isolated from tarantula venoms: ceratotoxins 1, 2, and 3 (CcoTx1, CcoTx2, and CcoTx3) from Ceratogyrus cornuatus and phrixotoxin 3 (PaurTx3) from Phrixotrichus auratus. The pharmacological profiles of these new toxins were characterized by electrophysiological measurements on six cloned voltage-gated sodium channel su...

Background: Although diphenidol has long been deployed as an anti-emetic and anti-vertigo drug, its mechanism of action remains unclear. In particular, little is known as to how diphenidol affects neuronal ion channels. Recently, we showed that diphenidol blocked neuronal voltage-gated Na+ channels, causing spinal blockade of motor function, proprioception and nociception in rats. In this work,...