Abstract
The L‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels (L‐VGCCs), Cav1.2 and Cav1.3, play an important role in different physiological processes such as action potential firing, exocytosis and muscle contraction. Due to a lack of selectivity for the dihydropyridine (DHP) class of L‐VGCC blockers, a Cav1.3 mutant that is insensitive to DHPs (Cav1.3/DHPi) has been used to dissect the role of Cav1.3 in glucose‐stimulated insulin secretion and other cellular activities. However, the Cav1.3/DHPi mutant channel has not been biophysically characterized. Our lab created the Cav1.3/DHPi by mutating Thr1033 and Gln1037 that are located in segment 5 of domain III (IIIS5) of the rat neuronal Cav1.3 clone (accession no. AF30010.1) to Tyr and Met, respectively. Ba2+ current (IBa) elicited by different voltage steps from tsA cells expressing Cav channels with and without the presence of drugs was measured. The voltage‐dependent activation and inactivation of Cav1.3/DHPi (V1/2 inact.= ‐26.6±1.2mV, V1/2 act.= ‐22.3±1.1mV) resembles that of wild type Cav1.3 (Cav1.3/WT) (V1/2 inact.= ‐36.0±1.3mV, V1/2 act.= ‐29.8±1.5mV). Cav1.3/DHPi is over 100 fold more insensitive to nifedipine compared to Cav1.3/WT (IC50 for Cav1.3/WT= ~0.55μM; IC50 for Cav1.3/DHPi=~70μM). However, the non‐DHP blockers, diltiazem (500μM) and the recently debated Cav1.3 selective blocker, compound 8 (50μM) achieved comparable inhibition of Cav1.3/WT and Cav1.3/DHPi‐mediated current. Our findings showed that Thr1033 and Gln1037 are not only critical, but also specific for DHP block of Cav1.3. The Cav1.3/DHPi mutant is a useful tool to screen for Cav1.3 specific blockers by removing the DHP binding site which is common to both Cav1.2 and Cav1.3.
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