title: Distinction between steady-state inactivation and voltage-dependent facilitation in L-type Ca2+ channel alpha1c and alpha1c/beta subunits.
abstract: The L-type Ca2+ channel has a unique kinetic property known as voltage-dependent facilitation. Many researchers have repeatedly investigated the mechanism in response to the voltage-dependent facilitation since the first observation by Fenwick et al. in 1982. Electrophysiological evaluations of voltage-dependent facilitation, however, remain inconsistent, partially because of its unclear definition. Some scientists understand it as a current augmentation by a conditioning prepulse prior to the test pulse, and others understand it as a result of the U-shape steady-state inactivation curve. We therefore investigated to identify the distinction between the voltage-dependent facilitation and the steady-state inactivation, by use of Ba2+ as the charge in order to avoid the other inactivation mechanism or the Ca(2+)-dependent inactivation upon this analysis. Conventional whole-cell mode patch clamp technique was applied to chinese hamster fibroblast (CHW) cells that express the alpha1c subunit alone or the alpha1c subunit with the beta subunit (alpha1c/beta) derived from rabbit heart to investigate the voltage-dependent facilitation depending on the composition of the subunits. Coexpression of the beta subunit augmented alpha1 subunit channel current and shifted current-voltage relation towards hyperpolarized direction. In the experiment using conventional double pulse protocol to investigate steady-state inactivation, alpha1c subunit channel current and alpha1c/beta subunit channel current were not fully inactivated. Subtraction of the steady-state inactivation component from whole recovered current enabled us to identify the voltage-dependent facilitation component of the L-type Ca2+ channel. The voltage-dependent facilitation of the alpha1 subunit current and the alpha1c/beta subunit current were identical in kinetics, and could be generated at 0 mV or depolarized potentials partially overlapped with the potential range for the steady-state inactivation of the current. These results suggest that the voltage-dependent facilitation of the L-type Ca2+ channel could be formed by the alpha1c subunit without interaction with the beta subunit, and that the range for the voltage-dependent facilitation and the steady-state inactivation overlap each other at 0 mV or more depolarized potentials up to approximately + 100 mV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Science, Oita University School of Medicine, Oita 879-5593, Japan.
authors.forename: Tae-Seong
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Katsushige
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hadama
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arita
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005347:Fibroblasts; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type; C419385:L-type calcium channel alpha(1C)