Introduction: Neurons in layer II and III of the somatosensory cortex in rats show high frequency (33 ± 13 Hz) of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) that their rates and amplitudes are independent of sodium channels. There are some changes in these currents in neurodegenerative and psychological disorders. Regarding to well known roles of the neuromodulatory brain systems in...

A B S X R A C T Gating current (I~) has been studied in relation to inactivation of the Na channels. No component of lg has the time course of inactivation; apparent ly little or no charge movement is associated with this step. Inactivation nonetheless affects Ig by immobilizing about two-thirds of gating charge. Immobilization can be followed by measuring ON charge movement dur ing a pulse and...

channelopathies were known, but most of these drugs were used empirically and were found to act on ion channels afterward. Now our knowledge about their role in diseases have validated ion channels as very promising druggable targets. What are the difficulties encountered in ion channel drug discovery? A major problem of ion channel drugs regards the side effects. An ion channel type is often e...

A B S X R A C T Gating current (I~) has been studied in relation to inactivation of the Na channels. No component of lg has the time course of inactivation; apparent ly little or no charge movement is associated with this step. Inactivation nonetheless affects Ig by immobilizing about two-thirds of gating charge. Immobilization can be followed by measuring ON charge movement dur ing a pulse and...

Patch pipettes were used to record the current arising from small populations of sodium channels in voltage-clamped cut-open squid axons. The current fluctuations associated with the time-variant sodium conductance were analyzed with nonstationary statistical techniques in order to obtain an estimate for the conductance of a single sodium channel. The results presented support the notion that t...

A variety of isoforms of mammalian voltage-gated sodium channels have been described. Ten genes encoding sodium channel alpha subunits have been identified, and nine of those isoforms have been functionally expressed in exogenous systems. The alpha subunit is associated with accessory beta subunits in some tissues, and three genes encoding different beta subunits have been identified. The alpha...

Patch pipettes were used to record the current arising from small populations of sodium channels in voltage-clamped cut-open squid axons . The current fluctuations associated with the time-variant sodium conductance were analyzed with nonstationary statistical techniques in order to obtain an estimate for the conductance of a single sodium channel . The results presented support the notion that...