Molecular characterization of the sodium channel subunits expressed in mammalian cerebellar Purkinje cells.

ABSTRACT: Inactivating and noninactivating Na+ conductances are known to generate, respectively, the rising phase and the prolonged plateau phase of cerebellar Purkinje cell (PC) action potentials. These conductances have different voltage activation levels, suggesting the possibility that two distinct types of ion channels are involved. Single Purkinje cell reverse transcription-PCR from guinea pig cerebellar slices identified two Na+ channel alpha subunit transcripts, the orthologs of RBI (rat brain I) and Nach6/Scn8a. The latter we shall name CerIII. In situ hybridization histochemistry in rat brain demonstrated broad CerIII expression at high levels in many neuronal groups in the brain and spinal cord, with little if any expression in white matter, or nerve tracts. RBII (rat brain II), the most

SUBMITTER: Vega-Saenz de Miera EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC21284 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature