Abstract

To determine the necessity of sodium channel fast inactivation for the block of sodium current (INa) by disopyramide, we studied the effects of disopyramide on INa in guinea pig ventricular myocytes treated with chloramine-T, which removes the fast component of INa inactivation. After exposure to chloramine-T (2 mM), INa amplitude was reduced at all voltages and INa decay was irreversibly prevented. Disopyramide (20 microM) produced both tonic block and use-dependent block of INa in chloramine-T-treated myocytes. Before treatment with chloramine-T, the time course of both the onset of and recovery from use-dependent block by disopyramide were best fit by the sum of double exponential functions, and the time constant of the slow phase of recovery increased as the membrane was hyperpolarized. After removal of the fast component of INa inactivation by chloramine-T, the fast phase of the onset block and the fast phase of recovery from block were abolished. However, the voltage dependency of the time course of recovery from block was unchanged. Thus, although the fast sodium inactivation process is not required for tonic and use-dependent block of INa by disopyramide, it contributes to the fast phase of block development and unbinding from use-dependent block.