Modulation of cloned skeletal muscle sodium channels by the scorpion toxins Lqh II, Lqh III, and LqhαIT

The scorpion alpha-toxins Lqh II, Lqh III, and Lqh alpha IT from Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus are representatives of typical alpha-toxins, specific for either mammals (Lqh II) or insects (Lqh alpha IT), and alpha-like toxins (Lqh III) which act on both mammals and insects. For a comparative study of the effects of these toxins on mammalian sodium channels we stably expressed rat skeletal muscle sodium channel alpha subunits (mu I) in HEK 293 cells and measured Na+ currents in the whole-cell patch-clamp mode. The alpha- and alpha-like toxins strongly slowed down channel inactivation with a half-maximal effect at 1.4 nM (Lqh II), 5.4 nM (Lqh III), and 0.5 nM (Lqh alpha IT). The recovery from fast inactivation was accelerated by all toxins with the potency sequence: Lqh II > Lqh alpha IT > Lqh III. The voltage dependence of inactivation and recovery from inactivation were reduced while the threshold for activation was only slightly shifted by congruent to 10 mV without altering the slope factors, suggesting uncoupling of the impaired inactivation from the activation. The toxins induced an increase in peak inward current, which was accounted for by an increased maximal open-channel probability. Although all three toxins induced similar modifications of the channel properties, their kinetics of association and dissociation were very different. Between -140 and -80 mV toxin association was not voltage dependent. In 100 nM toxin the association time constants were: 1.3 s (Lqh II), 20 s (Lqh III), and 3.8 s (Lqh alpha IT). At positive voltages the toxin dissociated from the channel; at +100 mV the dissociation time constants were 30, 321, and 135 ms, respectively. In contrast to the association, dissociation was voltage dependent with a similar slope of about 12 mV per e-fold change for all three toxins. The strong differences in the association and dissociation kinetics of these toxins may identify them as members of different scorpion alpha-toxin subgroups.