Micromolar concentrations of veratridine activate sodium channels in embryonic cockroach neurones in culture.

The mode of action of the alkaloid veratridine has been reinvestigated on cultured cockroach neurones, which are normally inexcitable and do not have a detectable fast sodium current. The whole-cell and cell-attached configurations of the patch-clamp technique were used to record the macroscopic and single channel currents, respectively. Concentrations of veratridine ranging from 10(-8) to 10(-5) M were found to induce a small tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive inward current, which peaked around +10 mV and reversed around +55 mV. This current exhibited a pronounced plateau and was insensitive to changes in the holding potential. Bath application of veratridine induced typical TTX-sensitive inwardly-directed single-channel activity, falling into two (apparently coupled) categories of events: first, relatively large events (1 pA at a hyperpolarized potential of -125 mV relative to rest) of short duration and, second, small bursting events (0.4 pA under similar conditions) of slightly longer duration. Pipette application of similar concentrations of veratridine had similar effects in that two categories of events were observed: first, bursts of large events with multiple conductance states and, second, small events of very long duration. The current/voltage relationship of these events was linear for the voltage range studied and the (extrapolated) reversal potential approximated +110 mV. These results support the hypothesis that veratridine, in small concentrations, induces a slow voltage-dependent activation of TTX-sensitive sodium channels, independent of the fast activating and inactivating sodium channels involved in action potential generation.