|
|
|
|||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 199, Issue 4 941-948, Copyright © 1996 by Company of Biologists
JOURNAL ARTICLES |
J Spafford, N Grigoriev and A Spencer
The Na+ current of 'swimming motor neurones' in the hydromedusan Polyorchis penicillatus was tetrodotoxin-insensitive. The local anaesthetics lidocaine and procainamide caused partial, non use-dependent blockade of the Na+ channel. Veratridine produced partial blockade of the Na+ channel without affecting inactivation. An order of blocking potency of di- and trivalent cations was established as: La3+ = Zn2+ = Cd2+ > Ni2+ > Mn2+ = Co2+ > Ca2+ > Ba2+ > Mg2+. All these cations, except Ba2+, produced depolarizing shifts in the conductance-voltage curves. Even at relatively high concentrations, the dihydropyridines nicardipine, nitrendipine and (+)Bay K 8644 produced only weak blockade of the Na+ current; while nimodipine, nifedipine and (-)Bay K 8644 were ineffective. Diltiazem and verapamil weakly blocked the Na+ current in a dose-dependent manner with no evidence of use-dependence. The calmodulin inhibitors W7 and calmidazolium were ineffective blockers of Na+ currents. Crude Conus venoms and the Conus peptides, µ-conotoxin GIIA, µO-conotoxin MrVIA, omega-conotoxin GVIA and omega-conotoxin MVIIC, were without effect. Capsaicin produced rapid, reversable blockade of Na+ current. It has been suggested that 'primitive' Na+ channels could be expected to have pharmacological properties that are intermediate between those of Na+ and Ca2+ channels. If such channels exist, the Na+ channel described here is clearly not one of them.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
Y.-C. J. Lin and A. N. Spencer Calcium currents from jellyfish striated muscle cells: preservation of phenotype, characterisation of currents and channel localisation J. Exp. Biol., January 11, 2001; 204(21): 3717 - 3726. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Leys, G. Mackie, and R. Meech Impulse conduction in a sponge J. Exp. Biol., January 5, 1999; 202(9): 1139 - 1150. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||