COMPETITION FOR BINDING BETWEEN VERATRIDINE AND KIFMK - AN OPEN-CHANNEL BLOCKING PEPTIDE OF THE RIIA SODIUM-CHANNEL

Veratridine, an alkaloid isolated from the rhizome of V. album, binds and slows the inactivation of the brain sodium channels. The synthetic pentapeptide KIFMK causes a voltage-and use-dependent open-channel bl ock of the RIIA (rat brain type IIA) sodium channel (Eaholtz, Scheuer & Catterall, 1994). Our stud ies on the RIIA sodium channel expressed in CHO cells reveal that the fraction of veratridine modified sodium c hannels decreases linearly with increasing KIFMK concentration. Howeve r, the time constant for dissociation of veratridine from the channel remains unchanged in the presence of a high concentration of KIFMK, as opposed to that in the presence of QX314 where the dissociation appea rs to be more complex. These data are consistent with mutually exclusi ve binding of the open channel blocking peptide and veratridine to the brain sodium channel.