The ability to reconstitute sodium channel function and pharmacology in vitro using cloned subunits of known structure has greatly enhanced our understanding of the action of pyrethroid insecticides at this target and the structural determinants of resistance and interspecies selectivity. However, the use of reconstituted channels raises three critical questions: (1) Which subunits and subunit combinations should be used? (2) Which heterologous expression system is preferred? (3) Which combination of subunits and expression system best represents the function of native neuronal channels in the organism of interest? This review considers these questions from the perspective of recent research in this laboratory on the action of pyrethroid insecticides on rat Na1.6 sodium channels by comparing the effects of heteroligomeric complex composition on channel function and insecticide response when channels are expressed in either Xenopus oocytes or stably-transformed HEK293 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe expressed rat Nav1.6 sodium channels with or without the rat β1 subunit in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells and evaluated the effects of the pyrethroid insecticides tefluthrin and deltamethrin on whole-cell sodium currents. In assays with the Nav1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe discovery of resmethrin almost five decades ago was the seminal event in the development of pyrethroid insecticides as important pest management tools, the value of which endures to this day. This brief review considers the development of pyrethroids from the perspective of the discovery of resmethrin. I describe the pathway to the discovery of resmethrin and the unique properties that differentiated it from the pyrethrins and earlier synthetic pyrethroids is described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Nav1.6 voltage-gated sodium channel α subunit isoform is abundantly expressed in the adult rat brain. To assess the functional modulation of Nav1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSodium channel inhibitor (SCI) insecticides were discovered almost four decades ago but have only recently yielded important commercial products (eg., indoxacarb and metaflumizone). SCI insecticides inhibit sodium channel function by binding selectively to slow-inactivated (non-conducting) sodium channel states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSodium channel inhibitor (SCI) insecticides are hypothesized to inhibit voltage-gated sodium channels by binding selectively to the slow-inactivated state. Replacement of valine at position 787 in the S6 segment of homology domain II of the rat Na(v)1.4 sodium channel by lysine (V787K) enchances slow inactivation of this channel whereas replacement by alanine or cysteine (V787A and V787C) inhibits slow inactivation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe expressed the rat Na(v)1.3 and Na(v)1.6 sodium channel α subunit isoforms in Xenopus oocytes either alone or with the rat β1 and β2 auxiliary subunits in various combinations and assessed the sensitivity of the expressed channels to resting and use-dependent modification by the pyrethroid insecticide tefluthrin using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPyrethroid insecticides disrupt nerve function by modifying the gating kinetics of transitions between the conducting and nonconducting states of voltage-gated sodium channels. Pyrethroids modify rat Na(v)1.6+β1+β2 channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes in both the resting state and in one or more states that require channel activation by repeated depolarization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSodium channel inhibitor (SCI) insecticides selectively target voltage-gated sodium (Na(v)) channels in the slow-inactivated state by binding at or near the local anesthetic receptor within the sodium channel pore. Metaflumizone is a new insecticide for the treatment of fleas on domesticated pets and has recently been reported to block insect sodium channels in the slow-inactivated state, thereby implying that it is also a member of the SCI class. Using the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique, we examined metaflumizone inhibition of rat Na(v)1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe expressed rat Na(v)1.6 sodium channels in combination with the rat β1 and β2 auxiliary subunits in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells and evaluated the effects of the pyrethroid insecticides tefluthrin and deltamethrin on expressed sodium currents using the whole-cell patch clamp technique. Both pyrethroids produced concentration-dependent, resting modification of Na(v)1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPestic Biochem Physiol
September 2011
In rats expression of the Na(v)1.7 voltage-gated sodium channel isoform is restricted to the peripheral nervous system and is abundant in the sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion. We expressed the rat Na(v)1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Toxicol
February 2012
Synthetic pyrethroid insecticides were introduced into widespread use for the control of insect pests and disease vectors more than three decades ago. In addition to their value in controlling agricultural pests, pyrethroids are at the forefront of efforts to combat malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases and are also common ingredients of household insecticide and companion animal ectoparasite control products. The abundance and variety of pyrethroid uses contribute to the risk of exposure and adverse effects in the general population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Na(v)1.6 voltage-gated sodium channel α subunit isoform is the most abundant isoform in the brain and is implicated in the transmission of high frequency action potentials. Purification and immunocytochemical studies imply that Na(v)1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPestic Biochem Physiol
June 2010
Pyrethroids disrupt nerve function by altering the rapid kinetic transitions between conducting and nonconducting states of voltage-gated sodium channels that underlie the generation of nerve action potentials. Recent studies of pyrethroid action on cloned insect and mammalian sodium channel isoforms expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes show that in some cases pyrethroid modification is either absolutely dependent on or significantly enhanced by repeated channel activation. These use-dependent effects have been interpreted as evidence of preferential binding of at least some pyrethroids to the open, rather than resting, state of the sodium channel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxicol Appl Pharmacol
September 2010
We expressed rat Na(v)1.6 sodium channels in combination with the rat beta(1) and beta(2) auxiliary subunits in Xenopus laevis oocytes and evaluated the effects of the pyrethroid insecticides S-bioallethrin, deltamethrin, and tefluthrin on expressed sodium currents using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique. S-Bioallethrin, a type I structure, produced transient modification evident in the induction of rapidly decaying sodium tail currents, weak resting modification (5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells are widely used for the heterologous expression of voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels. Patch clamp analysis of HEK293 cells in the whole-cell configuration identified voltage-gated, rapidly inactivating inward currents. Peak current amplitudes ranged from less than 100 pA to more than 800 pA, with the majority (84 of 130 cells) in the 100-400 pA range.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurotoxicity and mechanistic data were collected for six alpha-cyano pyrethroids (beta-cyfluthrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, esfenvalerate, fenpropathrin and lambda-cyhalothrin) and up to six non-cyano containing pyrethroids (bifenthrin, S-bioallethrin [or allethrin], permethrin, pyrethrins, resmethrin [or its cis-isomer, cismethrin] and tefluthrin under standard conditions. Factor analysis and multivariate dissimilarity analysis were employed to evaluate four independent data sets comprised of (1) fifty-six behavioral and physiological parameters from an acute neurotoxicity functional observatory battery (FOB), (2) eight electrophysiological parameters from voltage clamp experiments conducted on the Na(v)1.8 sodium channel expressed in Xenopus oocytes, (3) indices of efficacy, potency and binding calculated for calcium ion influx across neuronal membranes, membrane depolarization and glutamate released from rat brain synaptosomes and (4) changes in chloride channel open state probability using a patch voltage clamp technique for membranes isolated from mouse neuroblastoma cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVoltage-gated sodium channels are important sites for the neurotoxic actions of pyrethroid insecticides in mammals. The pore-forming alpha subunits of mammalian sodium channels are encoded by a family of 9 genes, designated Nav1.1-Nav1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnockdown resistance to DDT and the pyrethrins was first described in 1951 in the housefly (Musca domestica L.). This trait, which confers reduced neuronal sensitivity to these insecticides, was subsequently shown to confer cross-resistance to all synthetic pyrethroid insecticides that have been examined to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPoint mutations in the para-orthologous sodium channel alpha-subunit of the head louse (M815I, T917I, and L920F) are associated with permethrin resistance and DDT resistance. These mutations were inserted in all combinations using site-directed mutagenesis at the corresponding amino acid sequence positions (M827I, T929I, and L932F) of the house fly para-orthologous voltage-sensitive sodium channel alpha-subunit (Vssc1(WT)) gene and heterologously co-expressed with the sodium channel auxiliary subunit of house fly (Vsscbeta) in Xenopus oocytes. The double mutant possessing M827I and T929I (Vssc1(MITI)/Vsscbeta) caused a approximately 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPyrazoline-type insecticides (PTIs) selectively block sodium channels at membrane potentials that promote slow sodium channel inactivation and are proposed to interact with a site that overlaps the local anesthetic (LA) receptor site. Mutagenesis studies identified two amino acid residues in the S6 segment of homology domain IV (Phe-1579 and Tyr-1586 in the rat Na(v)1.4 sodium channel) as principal elements of the LA receptor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPyrazoline-type insecticides are potent inhibitors of insect and mammalian voltage-sensitive sodium channels. In mammals, there are nine sodium channel alpha subunit isoforms that have unique distributions and pharmacological properties, but no published data exist that compare the relative sensitivity of these different mammalian sodium channel isoforms to inhibition by pyrazoline-type insecticides. This study employed the Xenopus oocyte expression system to examine the relative sensitivity of rat Na(v)1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPyrethroid insecticides bind to voltage-sensitive sodium channels and modify their gating kinetics, thereby disrupting nerve function. This paper describes the action of 11 structurally diverse commercial pyrethroid insecticides on the rat Na v 1.8 sodium channel isoform, the principal carrier of the tetrodotoxin-resistant, pyrethroid-sensitive sodium current of sensory neurons, expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsecticidal pyrazolines inhibit voltage-sensitive sodium channels of both insect and mammalian neurons in a voltage-dependent manner. Studies on the effects of pyrazoline insecticides on mammalian sodium channels have been limited to experimentation on the tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S) and tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) sodium channel populations of rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. In this study, we examined the effects of the insecticidal pyrazolines indoxacarb, the N-decarbomethoxyllated metabolite of indoxacarb (DCJW), and RH 3421 on rat Na(v)1.
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