title: Characterization of Ca2+ channel currents in cultured rat cerebellar granule neurones.
abstract: 1. High-threshold voltage-gated calcium channel currents (IBa) were studied in cultured rat cerebellar granule neurones using the whole-cell patch clamp technique with 10 mM Ba2+ as the charge carrier. The putative P-type component of whole-cell current was characterized by utilizing the toxin omega-agatoxin IVA (omega-Aga IVA) in combination with other blockers. 2. omega-Aga IVA (100 nM) inhibited the high voltage-activated (HVA) IBa by 40.9 +/- 3.4% (n = 27), and the dissociation constant Kd was 2.7 nM. Maximal inhibition occurred within a 2-3 min time course, and was irreversible. The isolated omega-Aga IVA-sensitive current was non-inactivating. 3. omega-Aga IVA exhibited overlapping selectivity with both N- and L-channel blockers; omega-conotoxin GVIA (omega-CTX GVIA) (1 microM) and the dihydropyridine (-)-202-709 (1 microM), respectively. Together these toxins reduced the omega-Aga IVA-sensitive component to just 4.5 +/- 1.4% (n = 3). Thus only a small proportion of the current can be unequivocally attributed to P-type current. Inhibition of the HVA IBa by omega-Aga IA also reduced the proportion of omega-Aga IVA-sensitive current to 28.0 +/- 3.2% (n = 3). 4. Application of omega-Aga IVA and a synthetic form of funnel-web toxin, N-(7-amino-4-azaheptyl)-L-argininamide (sFTX-3.3; 10 microM), produced an additive block of the HVA IBa. Consequently these two toxins do not act on the same channel in cerebellar granule neurones. 5. omega-Aga IVA inhibition of low voltage-activated (LVA) IBa was studied in the ND7-23 neuronal cell line. omega-Aga IVA (100 nM) reduced the LVA current by 41.3 +/- 3.2% (n = 17) in a fully reversible manner with no shift in the steady-state inactivation of the channel. 6. A component of current insensitive to N-, L- and P-channel blockers remained unclassified in all our studies. This component, and also that remaining following block by omega-Aga IVA and omega-Aga IA, exhibited relatively rapid, although incomplete, inactivation compared to the other currents isolated in this study. 7. In conclusion, omega-Aga IVA inhibits a component of current in cultured cerebellar granule neurones which overlaps almost completely with that inhibited by L- and N-channel blockers. In addition, a large component of whole-cell current in these neurones still remains unclassified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Dolphin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001464:Barium / Q000378:metabolism; D002120:Calcium Channel Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011073:Polyamines / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D020867:omega-Agatoxin IVA
chemical_list: D002120:Calcium Channel Agonists; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D015220:Calcium Channels; C071920:FTX, spider toxin; D011073:Polyamines; D013111:Spider Venoms; D020867:omega-Agatoxin IVA; D001464:Barium