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Niflumic acid blocks native and recombinant T-type channels.

ABSTRACT: Voltage-dependent calcium channels are widely distributed in animal cells, including spermatozoa. Calcium is fundamental in many sperm functions such as: motility, capacitation, and the acrosome reaction (AR), all essential for fertilization. Pharmacological evidence has suggested T-type calcium channels participate in the AR. Niflumic acid (NA), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly used as chloride channel blocker, blocks T-currents in mouse spermatogenic cells and Cl(-) channels in testicular sperm. Here we examine the mechanism of NA blockade and explore if it can be used to separate the contribution of different Ca(V)3 members previously detected in these cells. Electrophysiological patch-clamp recordings were performed in isolated mouse spermatogenic cells and in HEK cells heterologously expressing Ca(V)3 channels. NA blocks mouse spermatogenic cell T-type currents with an IC(50) of 73.5?µM, without major voltage-dependent effects. The NA blockade is more potent in the open and in the inactivated state than in the closed state of the T-type channels. Interestingly, we found that heterologously expressed Ca(V)3.1 and Ca(V)3.3 channels were more sensitive to NA than Ca(V)3.2 channels, and this drug substantially slowed the recovery from inactivation of the three isoforms. Molecular docking modeling of drug-channel binding predicts that NA binds preferentially to the extracellular face of Ca(V)3.1 channels. The biophysical characteristics of mouse spermatogenic cell T-type currents more closely resemble those from heterologously expressed Ca(V)3.1 channels, including their sensitivity to NA. As Ca(V)3.1 null mice maintain their spermatogenic cell T-currents, it is likely that a novel Ca(V)3.2 isoform is responsible for them.

SUBMITTER: Balderas E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4146346 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Niflumic acid blocks native and recombinant T-type channels.

Balderas Enrique E Ateaga-Tlecuitl Rogelio R Rivera Manuel M Gomora Juan C JC Darszon Alberto A

Journal of cellular physiology 20120601 6

Voltage-dependent calcium channels are widely distributed in animal cells, including spermatozoa. Calcium is fundamental in many sperm functions such as: motility, capacitation, and the acrosome reaction (AR), all essential for fertilization. Pharmacological evidence has suggested T-type calcium channels participate in the AR. Niflumic acid (NA), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly used as chloride channel blocker, blocks T-currents in mouse spermatogenic cells and Cl(-) channels in ...[more]

PMID: 21898399

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Project description:Slo2.1 channels conduct an outwardly rectifying K(+) current when activated by high [Na(+)](i). Here, we show that gating of these channels can also be activated by fenamates such as niflumic acid (NFA), even in the absence of intracellular Na(+). In Xenopus oocytes injected with <10 ng cRNA, heterologously expressed human Slo2.1 current was negligible, but rapidly activated by extracellular application of NFA (EC(50) = 2.1 mM) or flufenamic acid (EC(50) = 1.4 mM). Slo2.1 channels activated by 1 mM NFA exhibited weak voltage dependence. In high [K(+)](e), the conductance-voltage (G-V) relationship had a V(1/2) of +95 mV and an effective valence, z, of 0.48 e. Higher concentrations of NFA shifted V(1/2) to more negative potentials (EC(50) = 2.1 mM) and increased the minimum value of G/G(max) (EC(50) = 2.4 mM); at 6 mM NFA, Slo2.1 channel activation was voltage independent. In contrast, V(1/2) of the G-V relationship was shifted to more positive potentials when [K(+)](e) was elevated from 1 to 300 mM (EC(50) = 21.2 mM). The slope conductance measured at the reversal potential exhibited the same [K(+)](e) dependency (EC(50) = 23.5 mM). Conductance was also [Na(+)](e) dependent. Outward currents were reduced when Na(+) was replaced with choline or mannitol, but unaffected by substitution with Rb(+) or Li(+). Neutralization of charged residues in the S1-S4 domains did not appreciably alter the voltage dependence of Slo2.1 activation. Thus, the weak voltage dependence of Slo2.1 channel activation is independent of charged residues in the S1-S4 segments. In contrast, mutation of R190 located in the adjacent S4-S5 linker to a neutral (Ala or Gln) or acidic (Glu) residue induced constitutive channel activity that was reduced by high [K(+)](e). Collectively, these findings indicate that Slo2.1 channel gating is modulated by [K(+)](e) and [Na(+)](e), and that NFA uncouples channel activation from its modulation by transmembrane voltage and intracellular Na(+).

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Niflumic acid blocks native and recombinant T-type channels.

Publications

Niflumic acid blocks native and recombinant T-type channels.

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