The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 78 No. 3 September 1997, pp. 1334-1340
Copyright ©1997 The American Physiological Society

Calcium Channel Subtypes in Lamprey Sensory and Motor Neurons

A. El Manira and N. Bussières

Department of Neuroscience, Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden

El Manira, A. and N. Bussières. Calcium channel subtypes in lamprey sensory and motor neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 1334-1340, 1997. Pharmacologically distinct calcium channels have been characterized in dissociated cutaneous sensory neurons and motoneurons of the larval lamprey spinal cord. To enable cell identification, sensory dorsal cells and motoneurons were selectively labeled with fluorescein-coupled dextran amine in the intact spinal cord in vitro before dissociation. Calcium channels present in sensory dorsal cells, motoneurons, and other spinal cord neurons were characterized with the use of whole cell voltage-clamp recordings and specific calcium channel agonist and antagonists. The results show that a transient low-voltage-activated (LVA) calcium current was present in a proportion of sensory dorsal cells but not in motoneurons, whereas high-voltage-activated (HVA) calcium currents were seen in all neurons recorded. The different components of HVA current were dissected pharmacologically and similar results were obtained for both dorsal cells and motoneurons. The N-type calcium channel antagonist -conotoxin-GVIA(-CgTx) blocked >70% of the HVA current. A large part of the -CgTx block was reversed after washout of the toxin. The L-type calcium channel antagonist nimodipine blocked ~15% of the total HVA current. The dihydropyridine agonist (±)-BayK 8644 markedly increased the amplitude of the calcium channel current. The BayK-potentiated current was not affected by -CgTx, indicating that the reversibility of the -CgTx effect is not due to a blockade of L-type channels. Simultaneous application of -CgTx and nimodipine left ~15% of the HVA calcium channel current, a small part of which was blocked by the P/Q-type channel antagonist -agatoxin-IVA. In the presence of the three antagonists, the persistent residual current (~10%) was completely blocked by cadmium. Our results provide evidence for the existence of HVA calcium channels of the N, L, and P/Q types and other HVA calcium channels in lamprey sensory neurons and motoneurons. In addition, certain types of neurons express LVA calcium channels.

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