With the aim of characterizing the functional and pharmacological prop
erties of the different voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels expressed in a
given type of CNS neuron, we obtained single Ca2+ channel recordings
from rat cerebellar granule cells in primary culture. Our data show th
at three novel classes of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels are coexpres
sed in cerebellar granule cells. They are pharmacologically distinct f
rom dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type and omega-conotoxin-sensitive N-t
ype channels, and their functional properties are different from those
of P- and T-type channels. The three novel 21 pS G1-, 15 pS G2-, and
20 pS G3-type Ca2+ channels have similar inactivation properties. They
show complete steady-state inactivation at -40 mV and their single-ch
annel average currents have both sustained and decaying components. Th
ey differ in activation threshold (-40 mV for G2, -30 mV for G3, and -
10 mV for G1, with 90 mM Ba2+ as charge carrier), mean open time (1.2
msec for G2, 1 msec for G3, 0.8 msec for G1), and single-channel curre
nts (at 0 mV: 0.5 pA for G2, 0.8 pA for G3, and 1.4 pA for G1). Togeth
er with the previously characterized multiple L-type Ca2+ channels (Fo
rti and Pietrobon, 1993), G1-, G2-, and G3-type channels constitute th
e large majority of Ca2+ channels of cerebellar granule cells in cultu
re. The low activation threshold of G2-type channels and their inactiv
ation properties suggest that they might be native counterparts of the
recently expressed rat brain clone rbE-II (Soong et al., 1993).