Dependence of the conductance of the alpha-latrotoxin channel on applied potential and potassium concentration.

alpha-Latrotoxin, with a molecular weight 130,000, is the main component of black widow spider venom, and acts at the presynaptical level, inducing a notable release of neurotransmitters in the synapses of all vertebrates. In artificial lipid membranes, this neurotoxin induces the formation of cation-selective ionic channels, whose conductance depends on the intensity and direction of the applied potential. In fact, also in the presence of symmetrical solutions of potassium chloride, the voltage-current characteristics of the single channel strongly rectify. Such rectification, which depends on the concentration of the ions in solution, can be described by a one-site, one-ion model for a channel. The data fit provides the values of the three parameters describing the model. Moreover, a statistical analysis of the amplitude of the single channel, as a function of the concentration of potassium chloride, has made it possible to verify the consistency of the model used.