Abstract
We investigated effects of pharmacological triggering of
exchange protein directly activated by cyclic-3
′
,5
′
-adenosine monophosphate
(Epac) on Nav1.4 currents from intact murine (C67BL6) skeletal muscle fibres for the first time. This employed a loose patch clamp technique which examined ionic currents in response to superimposed 10-ms
V
1
steps to
varying
degrees of depolarisation, followed by
V
2
steps to a
fixed
, +100 mV depolarisation relative to resting membrane potential following 40 mV hyperpolarising prepulses of 50 ms duration. The activation and inactivation properties of the resulting Na
+
membrane current densities revealed reduced maximum currents and steepnesses in their voltage dependences after addition of the Epac activator 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)adenosine-3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (1 µM) to the bathing Krebs-Henseleit solutions. Contrastingly, voltages at half-maximal current and timecourses of currents obtained in response to the
V
1
depolarising steps were unchanged. These effects were abolished by further addition of the RyR-inhibitor dantrolene (10 µM). In contrast, challenge by dantrolene alone left both currents and their parameters intact. These effects of Epac activation in inhibiting skeletal muscle, Nav1.4, currents, complement similar effects previously reported in the homologous Nav1.5 in murine cardiomyocytes. They are discussed in terms of a hypothesis implicating Epac actions in increasing RyR-mediated SR Ca
2+
release resulting in a Ca
2+
-mediated inhibition of Nav1.4. The latter effect may form the basis for Ca
2+
-dependent Na
+
channel dysregulation in
SCN4A
channelopathies associated with cold- and K
+
-aggravated myotonias.