PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S. I. Alekseev
AU  - A. S. Alekseev
AU  - M. C. Ziskin
TI  - Effects of Alcohols on A-Type K<sup>+</sup> Currents in<em>Lymnaea</em> Neurons
DP  - 1997 Apr 01
TA  - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
PG  - 84--92
VI  - 281
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/281/1/84.short
4100  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/281/1/84.full
SO  - J Pharmacol Exp Ther1997 Apr 01; 281
AB  - The effects of short-chain alcohols (methanol, ethanol andn-propanol) on the fast-inactivating, A-type, potassium current of Lymnaea neurons were examined using macroscopic recording techniques. Alcohols produced a blockade of the current and modified its inactivation mechanism. The extracellular concentrations of methanol, ethanol and n-propanol causing 50% suppression of the current were 2970, 830 and 230 mM, respectively. The main effects of alcohols on inactivation were a decrease in the amplitude of the fast component and a simultaneous increase in the amplitude of the slow component of inactivation. In a model, the suppression of the fast component could be reproduced by an increase of the backward rate constant related to the dissociation of the inactivation particle from its binding site. The blockade and modification of inactivation reveal similar dependences on ethanol concentration, indicating that the same type of interaction of ethanol with the channel underlies both of these events. Ethanol was effective only in extracellular applications. The data support an action of alcohols at a hydrophobic site near the extracellular portion of the channel. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics