Actions of tefluthrin on rat Na v1.7 voltage-gated sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes

Abstract

In rats expression of the Na v1.7 voltage-gated sodium channel isoform is restricted to the peripheral nervous system and is abundant in the sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion. We expressed the rat Na v1.7 sodium channel α subunit together with the rat auxiliary β1 and β2 subunits in Xenopus laevis oocytes and assessed the effects of the pyrethroid insecticide tefluthrin on the expressed currents using the two-electrode voltage clamp method. Tefluthrin at 100 μM modified of Na v1.7 channels to prolong inactivation of the peak current during a depolarizing pulse, resulting in a marked “late current” at the end of a 40 ms depolarization, and induced a sodium tail current following repolarization. Tefluthrin modification was enhanced up to twofold by the application of a train of up to 100 5 ms depolarizing prepulses. These effects of tefluthrin on Na v1.7 channels were qualitatively similar to its effects on rat Na v1.2, Na v1.3 and Na v1.6 channels assayed previously under identical conditions. However, Na v1.7 sodium channels were distinguished by their low sensitivity to modification by tefluthrin, especially compared to Na v1.3 and Na v1.6 channels. It is likely that Na v1.7 channels contribute significantly to the tetrodotoxin-sensitive, pyrethroid-resistant current found in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. We aligned the complete amino acid sequences of four pyrethroid-sensitive isoforms (house fly Vssc1; rat Na v1.3, Na v1.6 and Na v1.8) and two pyrethroid-resistant isoforms (rat Na v1.2 and Na v1.7) and found only a single site, located in transmembrane segment 6 of homology domain I, at which the amino acid sequence was conserved among all four sensitive isoform sequences but differed in the two resistant isoform sequences. This position, corresponding to Val410 of the house fly Vssc1 sequence, also aligns with sites of multiple amino acid substitutions identified in the sodium channel sequences of pyrethroid-resistant insect populations. These results implicate this single amino acid polymorphism in transmembrane segment 6 of sodium channel homology domain I as a determinant of the differential pyrethroid sensitivity of rat sodium channel isoforms.