title: Functional differences between two classes of sodium channels in developing rat skeletal muscle.
abstract: Excitability is generated in developing skeletal muscle by the incorporation of sodium-selective ion channels into the surface membrane. Whole-cell and patch voltage-clamp recording from myotubes and their embryologic precursors, myoblasts, indicated that voltage-activated sodium current in myoblasts was more resistant to block by tetrodotoxin (TTX) than that in myotubes. Single-channel recording from both cell types showed two classes of sodium channels. One class had a lower single-channel conductance, activated at more hyperpolarized voltages, and was more resistant to TTX than the other. The proportion of TTX-resistant to TTX-sensitive sodium channels was higher in myoblasts than in myotubes. Thus, the difference in TTX sensitivity between myoblasts and myotubes can be explained by a difference in the proportion of the two classes of sodium channels. In addition, the lower conductance of TTX-resistant channels provides insight into the relationship between the TTX binding site and the external mouth of the sodium channel.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004351:Drug Resistance; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D024510:Muscle Development; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D013779:Tetrodotoxin; D012964:Sodium