Trafficking and cellular distribution of voltage-gated sodium channels

Upregulation of voltage-gated Na+ channels by long-term activation of the ghrelin-growth hormone secretagogue receptor in clonal GC somatotropes

A central question in adenohypophyseal cell physiology concerns the role of transmembrane ionic fluxes in the initiation of the hormone secretion process. In the current report, we investigated the effects of the growth hormone (GH) secretagogues ghrelin and GH-releasing peptide-6 (GHRP-6) on the regulation of the functional expression of voltage-gated Na(+) channels using the tumoral somatotrope GC cell line as a model. Cells were cultured under control conditions or in presence of the GH secretagogues (GHS) for 96 h, and Na(+) currents (I(Na)) were characterized in whole cell patch-clamp experiments. GHS treatment significantly increased I(Na) density in a dose-dependent manner. The effects of GHRP-6 were accompanied by an augment in conductance without changes in the kinetics and the voltage dependence of the currents, suggesting an increase in the number of channels in the cell membrane. Sustained inhibition of L-type Ca(2+) channel activity decreased I(Na) density and prevented the effects of the GHS, whereas long-term exposure to an L-channel agonist increased I(Na) density and enhanced the actions of GHRP-6, indicating that Ca(2+) entry through these channels plays a role in the regulation of Na(+) channel expression. Likewise, GHRP-6 failed to enhance Na(+) channel expression in the presence of membrane-permeable inhibitors of protein kinases A and C, as well as the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinase II. Conversely, treatment with a cAMP analog or a protein kinase C activator enhanced both basal and GHS-induced secretion of GH measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay, suggesting that GHRP-6 acting through the ghrelin receptor and different signaling pathways enhances Na(+) channel membrane expression, which favors hormone release from GC somatotropes.

The ataxia3 mutation in the N-terminal cytoplasmic domain of sodium channel Na(v)1.6 disrupts intracellular trafficking

The ENU-induced neurological mutant ataxia3 was mapped to distal mouse chromosome 15. Sequencing of the positional candidate gene Scn8a encoding the sodium channel Na(v)1.6 identified a T>C transition in exon 1 resulting in the amino acid substitution p.S21P near the N terminus of the channel. The cytoplasmic N-terminal region is evolutionarily conserved but its function has not been well characterized. ataxia3 homozygotes exhibit a severe disorder that includes ataxia, tremor, and juvenile lethality. Unlike Scn8a null mice, they retain partial hindlimb function. The mutant transcript is stable but protein abundance is reduced and the mutant channel is not detected in its usual site of concentration at nodes of Ranvier. In whole-cell patch-clamp studies of transfected ND7/23 cells that were maintained at 37 degrees C, the mutant channel did not produce sodium current, and function was not restored by coexpression of beta1 and beta2 subunits. However, when transfected cells were maintained at 30 degrees C, the mutant channel generated voltage-dependent inward sodium currents with an average peak current density comparable with wild type, demonstrating recovery of channel activity. Immunohistochemistry of primary cerebellar granule cells from ataxia3 mice demonstrated that the mutant protein is retained in the cis-Golgi. This trafficking defect can account for the low level of Na(v)1.6-S21P at nodes of Ranvier in vivo and at the surface of transfected cells. The data demonstrate that the cytoplasmic N-terminal domain of the sodium channel is required for anterograde transport from the Golgi complex to the plasma membrane.