Blockade of the voltage-dependent sodium current in isolated rat hippocampal neurons by tetrodotoxin and lidocaine.

The effects of tetrodotoxin and lidocaine on the voltage-dependent sodium current (INa) were studied in the CA1 pyramidal neurons isolated acutely from rat hippocampus using a 'concentration-clamp' technique which combines the intracellular perfusion with a rapid external solution change within a few ms. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) exerted its inhibitory action in time- and dose-dependent manner on the peak amplitude of INa without any apparent effects on both the current activation and inactivation processes of the current. The time course for reaching a steady-state of the inhibitory action shortened with increasing TTX concentration, but the time course of recovery from the inhibition after washing out the toxin was quite the same at any concentrations used. Lidocaine also inhibited dose-dependently the INa, though with slightly accelerating both the activation and inactivation processes. The time courses for reaching the steady-state inhibition and the recovery from the inhibition were much shorter than those in the case of TTX. The results indicate that the voltage-dependent sodium channel of mammalian brain neuron is TTX-sensitive as well as that of peripheral neuron and that the mode of TTX inhibition on the INa is quite different from that of lidocaine.