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Studying Sodium Channel Gating in Heterologous Expression Systems

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Advanced Patch-Clamp Analysis for Neuroscientists

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 113))

Abstract

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Navs) are essential for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in most excitable tissues, such as neurons or cardiac myocytes. Mutations in Navs are linked to several severe conditions, such as pain syndromes, epilepsy, and cardiac arrhythmias and these ion channels are therefore among the most promising drug targets. The development of Nav modulators is complicated by the intricate gating mechanisms of these ion channels. They activate extremely quickly and subsequently inactivate equally fast. There are several additional gating modes that are physiologically relevant and that may be involved in the pathophysiology of numerous conditions, such as a variety of pain syndromes.

Whole-cell voltage clamp is a valuable technique to study the different gating modes of Navs and their possible physiological roles. It can be conducted in a variety of tissue preparations; however, for the basic investigation of Nav activity, heterologous expression systems offer numerous advantages. The fast kinetics of Nav activity make it difficult to accurately measure these events. The following chapter therefore aims to provide the necessary steps and protocols in order to study Nav gating.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Jannis E. Meents & Angelika Lampert

Authors
  1. Jannis E. Meents
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  2. Angelika Lampert
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Correspondence to Angelika Lampert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Alon Korngreen

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Meents, J.E., Lampert, A. (2016). Studying Sodium Channel Gating in Heterologous Expression Systems. In: Korngreen, A. (eds) Advanced Patch-Clamp Analysis for Neuroscientists. Neuromethods, vol 113. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3411-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3411-9_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3409-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3411-9

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