Effects of aminoglycoside antibiotics on calcium action potentials and calcium channel currents.

The author reviews work from his laboratory on the effects of neomycin and streptomycin on the Ca(2+)-dependent electrogenesis of crustacean muscle fibers and on two distinct Ca2+ channel currents of pituitary cells. The data indicate that these aminoglycosides inhibit the graded electrogenesis and the action potentials of crustacean muscle; these effects are accompanied by inhibition of tension development upon membrane depolarization. Increasing the extracellular Ca2+ concentration reverses the aminoglycoside-induced blockade of the Ca(2+)-dependent electrogenesis of the muscle fibers. Neomycin blocked both the transient (T-type) and the slowly-inactivating (L-type) Ca2+ currents of clonal pituitary GH3 cells, studied with the whole cell modality of the patch clamp technique. The blockade of these currents was not modulated by activation or inactivation of the channels. Neomycin inhibited also the currents conveyed by Na+ through the slowly-inactivating Ca2+ in cells equilibrated with Ca(2+)-free media. Interpretation of these data led to the suggestion that the blockade of Ca2+ currents by neomycin (and other aminoglycosides) cannot be explained by competition with Ca2+ ions for binding to high affinity transition sites within the Ca2+ channel path.