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Certain calcium channel inhibitors exhibit a number of secondary effects on the physiological properties in

Authors :
Vilmantas Pupkis
Indre Lapeikaite
Julius Kavaliauskas
Kazimierz Trębacz
Vilma Kisnieriene
Source :
Functional Plant Biology. 50:195-205
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
CSIRO Publishing, 2022.

Abstract

An unsolved problem of contemporary plant electrophysiology is the identity of Ca2+ channels responsible for the initiation of the action potential. We took a pharmacological approach and applied several Ca2+ channel blockers (verapamil, tetrandrine, and NED-19) on a Characean (Nitellopsis obtusa) algae model system. The impact of the selected pharmaceuticals on the parameters of excitation transients of a single cell was analysed employing the two-electrode voltage clamp technique. It was revealed that tetrandrine exerted no effect, while both verapamil and NED-19 prolonged activation and inactivation durations of the excitatory Cl− current. NED-19 also significantly depolarised the excitation threshold membrane potential and shifted Ca2+ current reversal potential. Thus, NED-19 most specifically targeted Ca2+ channels. A viability assay paired with observations of cytoplasmic streaming revealed that verapamil affected not only Ca2+ channels but also exhibited non-specific effects, which eventually lead to cell death. Since many potential Ca2+ channel blockers exert additional undesirable non-specific effects, our study underlines the necessity to search for new more specific modulators of plant Ca2+ transport systems.

Details

ISSN :
14454416 and 14454408
Volume :
50
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Functional Plant Biology
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........ddcf7b3c8bdf987530ebc181419abc84
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1071/fp22106