Modification of single sodium channels by the insecticide tetramethrin.

(+)-trans-Tetramethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, markedly prolongs the open time of single sodium channels recorded by the gigaohm-seal voltage clamp technique in a membrane patch excised from the N1E-115 neuroblastoma cell. Single channel conductance is not altered by tetramethrin. The modification by tetramethrin occurs in an all-or-none manner in a population of sodium channels. The observed tetramethrin-induced modification of single sodium channels is compatible with previous sodium current data from axons.