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The agonist actions of seven commercial neonicotinoid insecticides and nicotine were studied on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed by neurons isolated from the three thoracic ganglia of the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Single electrode voltage clamp recording was used to measure agonist-induced inward currents. Acetylcholine, nicotine and all neonicotinoids tested, except thiamethoxam, caused inward currents which were blocked reversibly by methyllycaconitine, a nAChR antagonist. Based on maximum inward currents, neonicotinoids could be divided into two subgroups: (1) those with a heterocyclic ring in their electronegative pharmacophore moiety (i.e. nicotine, imidacloprid and thiacloprid) were relatively weak partial agonists causing only 20-25% of the maximum ACh current and (2) open chain compounds (i.e. acetamiprid, dinotefuran, nitenpyram, and clothiandin) which were much more effective agonists producing 60-100% of the maximum ACh current. These compounds also elicited different symptoms of poisoning in American cockroaches with excitatory responses evident for the low efficacy agonists but depressive and paralytic responses predominating for the most efficacious agonists. No correlation was observed between agonist affinity and efficacy on these nAChRs. Thiamethoxam, even at 100 microM, failed to cause an inward current and showed no competitive interaction with other neonicotinoids on nAChRs, indicating that it is not a direct-acting agonist or antagonist. Despite the probable presence of multiple subtypes of nAChRs on cockroach neurons, competition studies between neonicotinoids did not reveal evidence that separate binding sites exist for the tested compounds. The size of inward currents induced by co-application of neonicotinoid pairs at equal concentration (100 microM) were predominantly determined by the one with higher binding affinity as indicated by EC(50) values, rather than by the one with higher binding efficacy as indicated by maximal current (I(max)). Agonist efficacy, but not affinity, was positively correlated with insecticidal activity. These findings indicate that: (1) agonist affinity and efficacy vary independently with neonicotinoid structure; (2) high agonist efficacy is dependent on the presence of an acyclic electronegative pharmacophore group; (3) agonist efficacy is a significant factor in the insecticidal activity of neonicotinoids to cockroaches; (4) lower efficacy compounds cause excitatory symptoms (Type A), while high efficacy compounds cause depressive/paralytic symptoms (Type B).

In recent years, corn rootworm (CRW)-resistant maize events producing two or more CRW-active Bt proteins have been commercialized to enhance efficacy against the target pest(s) by providing multiple modes of action (MoA). The maize hybrid MON 87411 has been developed that produces the CRW-active Cry3Bb1 Bt protein (hereafter Cry3Bb1) and expresses a RNAi-mediated MoA that also targets CRW. As part of an environmental risk assessment for MON 87411, the potential for an interaction between the CRW-active DvSnf7 RNA (hereafter DvSnf7) and Cry3Bb1 was assessed in 12-day diet incorporation bioassays with the southern corn rootworm (SCR, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi). The potential for an interaction between DvSnf7 and Cry3Bb1 was evaluated with two established experimental approaches. The first approach evaluated each substance alone and in combination over three different response levels. For all three response levels, observed responses were shown to be additive and not significantly different from predicted responses under the assumption of independent action. The second approach evaluated the potential for a fixed sub-lethal concentration of Cry3Bb1 to decrease the median lethal concentration (LC50) of DvSnf7 and vice-versa. With this approach, the LC50 value of DvSnf7 was not altered by a sub-lethal concentration of Cry3Bb1 and vice-versa. In addition, the potential for an interaction between the Cry3Bb1 and DvSnf7 was tested with Colorado potato beetle (CPB, Leptinotarsa decemlineata), which is sensitive to Cry3Bb1 but not DvSnf7. CPB assays also demonstrated that DvSnf7 does not alter the activity of Cry3Bb1. The results from this study provide multiple lines of evidence that DvSnf7 and Cry3Bb1 produced in MON 87411 have independent action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We expressed the rat Nav1.3 and Nav1.6 sodium channel α subunit isoforms in Xenopus oocytes either alone or with the rat β1 and β2 auxiliary subunits in various combinations and assessed the sensitivity of the expressed channels to resting and use-dependent modification by the pyrethroid insecticide tefluthrin using the two-electrode voltage clamp technique. Coexpression with the β1 and β2 subunits, either individually or in combination, did not affecting the resting sensitivity of Nav1.6 channels to tefluthrin. Modification by tefluthrin of Nav1.6 channels in the absence of β subunits was not altered by the application of trains of high-frequency depolarizing prepulses. By contrast, coexpression of the Nav1.6 channel with the β1 subunit enhanced the extent of channel modification 2-fold following repeated depolarization. Coexpression of Nav1.6 with the β2 subunit also slightly enhanced modification following repeated depolarization, but coexpression of Nav1.6 with both β subunits caused enhanced modification following repeated depolarization that was indistinguishable from that found with Nav1.6+β1 channels. In contrast to Nav1.6, the resting modification by tefluthrin of Nav1.3 channels expressed in the absence of β subunits was reduced by repeated depolarization. However, tefluthrin modification of the Nav1.3 α subunit expressed with both β subunits was enhanced 1.7-fold by repeated depolarization, thereby confirming that β subunit modulation of use-dependent effects was not confined to the Nav1.6 isoform. These results show that the actions of pyrethroids on mammalian sodium channels in the Xenopus oocyte expression system are determined in part by the interactions of the sodium channel α subunit with the auxiliary β subunits that are part of the heteromultimeric sodium channel complexes found in neurons and other excitable cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In rats expression of the Nav1.7 voltage-gated sodium channel isoform is restricted to the peripheral nervous system and is abundant in the sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion. We expressed the rat Nav1.7 sodium channel α subunit together with the rat auxiliary β1 and β2 subunits in Xenopus laevis oocytes and assessed the effects of the pyrethroid insecticide tefluthrin on the expressed currents using the two-electrode voltage clamp method. Tefluthrin at 100μM modified of Nav1.7 channels to prolong inactivation of the peak current during a depolarizing pulse, resulting in a marked “late current” at the end of a 40ms depolarization, and induced a sodium tail current following repolarization. Tefluthrin modification was enhanced up to twofold by the application of a train of up to 100 5ms depolarizing prepulses. These effects of tefluthrin on Nav1.7 channels were qualitatively similar to its effects on rat Nav1.2, Nav1.3 and Nav1.6 channels assayed previously under identical conditions. However, Nav1.7 sodium channels were distinguished by their low sensitivity to modification by tefluthrin, especially compared to Nav1.3 and Nav1.6 channels. It is likely that Nav1.7 channels contribute significantly to the tetrodotoxin-sensitive, pyrethroid-resistant current found in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. We aligned the complete amino acid sequences of four pyrethroid-sensitive isoforms (house fly Vssc1; rat Nav1.3, Nav1.6 and Nav1.8) and two pyrethroid-resistant isoforms (rat Nav1.2 and Nav1.7) and found only a single site, located in transmembrane segment 6 of homology domain I, at which the amino acid sequence was conserved among all four sensitive isoform sequences but differed in the two resistant isoform sequences. This position, corresponding to Val410 of the house fly Vssc1 sequence, also aligns with sites of multiple amino acid substitutions identified in the sodium channel sequences of pyrethroid-resistant insect populations. These results implicate this single amino acid polymorphism in transmembrane segment 6 of sodium channel homology domain I as a determinant of the differential pyrethroid sensitivity of rat sodium channel isoforms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]