In a series of experiments the clotrimazole concentration wa

In a series of experiments, the clotrimazole concentration was varied and the NSVDC channel conductances were calculated from Eq. (1) to obtain the dose-response relation (Fig. 3). The data were fitted to the Michaelis–Menten-type activation curve (Eq. (3)) and gave an EC50 value of 14 μM and a dose-dependent activation from 0.78 to 2.54 μS cm−2 (assuming a residual Cl conductance of 1.55 μS cm−2). The structural clotrimazole analogs TRAM-34, miconazole, or econazole also caused an increase of the NSVDC channel conductance. At concentrations of 20 μM, clotrimazole was found to be the most effective compound, causing a conductance increase about two times higher than TRAM-34, econazole, or miconazole, which had comparable activities (Fig. 4).
Discussion Suspension of human red haspin inhibitor in media with low chloride concentrations (isotonic sucrose substitution) results in strongly inside positive membrane potentials, which activate the voltage-dependent nonselective cation (NSVDC) channel, causing an efflux of cations. Furthermore, if the chloride conductance has been reduced by the action of anion conductance–exchange inhibitors, a rapid change of the membrane potential in the negative direction is seen. When the activation has reached stationarity, addition of Ca2+ activates the Ca2+-activated K+ channel provided K+ is present in the extracellular medium [10]. The K+-channel activation can be demonstrated by addition of established blockers of the Gárdos channel. All blockers suppress the transient Ca2+-induced hyperpolarization. Contrary to nitrendipine and cetiedil, however, clotrimazole and clotrimazole analogs, both in the presence and absence of Ca2+, augmented the original NSVDC channel-induced repolarization, eventually resulting in negative membrane potentials. Apart from being Gárdos channel blockers, this group of compounds can consequently be characterized as NSVDC channel activators too. As can be seen from Fig. 1, Fig. 2, the flux increases reported in Table 1 are accompanied by an increased hyperpolarization, indicating the electrogenic nature of the effect. At least two characteristics of the NSVDC channel seem to be affected when clotrimazole is present during the entire experiment: the rate of the conductance increase following a strong depolarization was faster, and the stationary conductance attained was higher in the presence of clotrimazole than without. The conductance increase effected by clotrimazole can be fitted to a saturating, Michaelis–Menten-like function (Eq. (3); Table 2). However, the apparent EC50 value, 14 μM, reported here should be interpreted with caution. In sucrose Ringers, the clotrimazole-induced cation conductance increase will cause a more negative potential to develop. Due to the voltage dependence of the NSVDC channel, this in turn will downregulate the conductance, thus causing the activating effect of clotrimazole to be underrated, and the EC50 proper could well be at least an order of magnitude lower. Although clotrimazole is an established Gárdos channel blocker, the activation of the NSVDC channel appears to be unrelated to this mechanism because neither cetiedil nor nitrendipine have any effect on the NSVDC channel. Clotrimazole is the most potent compound tested so far, but the analogs econazole, miconazole, and TRAM34 have activating properties too, with nearly identical potencies. Using excised inside-out patches, single channel experiments have shown that the NSVDC channel can be activated to a low or a high activation state, depending on the initial holding potential [6], [16]. Furthermore, experiments with cell suspensions have shown that this property is retained at the cellular level [17]. Because the cells in the present experiments are injected into Ringers containing 2 mM Cl− only, causing a strong depolarization, the NSVDC channel is activated to the high activity state. Consequently, the stimulating effect of the clotrimazole group of compounds cannot be ascribed to an activity shift from the low to the high activity state.