Chlorotoxin does not inhibit volume-regulated, calcium-activated and cyclic AMP-activated chloride channels

It was the aim of this study to look for a high-affinity and selective polypeptide toxin, which could serve as a probe for the volume-regulated anion channel (VRAC) or the calcium-activated chloride channel (CaCC). We have partially purified chlorotoxin, including new and homologous short chain insectotoxins, from the crude venom of Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestriatus (Lqq) by means of gel filtration chromatography. Material eluting between 280 and 420 min, corresponding to fractions 15-21, was lyophilized and tested on VRAC and CaCC, using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. We have also tested the commercially available chlorotoxin on VRAC, CaCC, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and on the glioma specific chloride channel (GCC). VRAC and the correspondent current, I(Cl,swell), was activated in Cultured Pulmonary Artery Endothelial (CPAE) cells by a 25% hypotonic solution. Neither of the fractions 16-21 significantly inhibited I(Cl,swell) (n=4-5). Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) currents, I(Cl,Ca), activated by loading T84 cells via the patch pipette with 1 microM free Ca(2+), were not inhibited by any of the tested fractions (15-21), (n=2-5). Chlorotoxin (625 nM) did neither effect I(Cl,swell) nor I(Cl,Ca) (n=4-5). The CFTR channel, transiently transfected in COS cells and activated by a cocktail containing IBMX and forskolin, was not affected by 1.2 microM chlorotoxin (n=5). In addition, it did not affect currents through GCC. We conclude that submicromolar concentrations of chlorotoxin do not block volume-regulated, Ca(2+)-activated and CFTR chloride channels and that it can not be classified as a general chloride channel toxin.