Pharmacology of the human red cell voltage-dependent cation channel. Part II: inactivation and blocking

Pharmacological modulation of the nonselective voltage-dependent cation (NSVDC) channel from human erythrocytes was studied. Using the inorganic cations ruthenium red and La 3+, as well as the organic thiol group reagents iodoacetamide (IAA) and N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), it was possible to demonstrate a concentration-dependent decrease in the voltage-activated conductance, reflecting an inhibition or inactivation of the channel. Initial voltage activation was achieved by injecting human red cells into sucrose-substituted Ringers with a low chloride concentration, which causes a strongly positive membrane potential to develop, initially determined by the equilibrium potential for Cl − (≈+100 mV). Due to the voltage- and time-dependent activation of the cation channel, net effluxes, minimized by addition of a chloride conductance blocker, occurred and V m gradually decreased and stabilized at a value less positive than E Cl, reflecting the increased cation conductance, g +, reaching 1.5–2.0 μS/cm 2. In the presence of inhibitors of the NSVDC channel, both the membrane potential repolarization and the cation efflux were diminished.