Action of the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin on rat brain IIa sodium channels expressed in xenopus oocytes.

Pyrethroid insecticides bind to a unique site on voltage-dependent sodium channels and prolong sodium currents, leading to repetitive bursts of action potentials or use-dependent nerve block. To further characterize the site and mode of action of pyrethroids on sodium channels, we injected synthetic mRNA encoding the rat brain IIa sodium channel alpha subunit, either alone or in combination with synthetic mRNA encoding the rat sodium channel beta1 subunit, into oocytes of the frog Xenopus laevis and assessed the actions of the pyrethroid insecticide [1R,cis,alphaS]-cypermethrin on expressed sodium currents by two-electrode voltage clamp. In oocytes expressing only the rat brain IIa alpha subunit, cypermethrin produced a slowly-decaying sodium tail current following a depolarizing pulse. In parallel experiments using oocytes expressing the rat brain IIa alpha subunit in combination with the rat beta1 subunit, cypermethrin produced qualitatively similar tail currents following a depolarizing pulse and also induced a sustained component of the sodium current measured during a step depolarization of the oocyte membrane. The voltage dependence of activation and steady-state inactivation of the cypermethrin-dependent sustained current were identical to those of the peak transient sodium current measured in the absence of cypermethrin. Concentration-response curves obtained using normalized tail current amplitude as an index of the extent of sodium channel modification by cypermethrin revealed that coexpression of the rat brain IIa alpha subunit with the rat beta1 subunit increased the apparent affinity of the sodium channel binding site for cypermethrin by more than 20-fold. These results confirm that the pyrethroid binding site is intrinsic to the sodium channel alpha subunit and demonstrate that coexpression of the rat brain IIa alpha subunit with the rat beta1 subunit alters the apparent affinity of this site for pyrethroids.