Identification of gating modes in single native Na+ channels from human atrium and ventricle

The aim of the present study was to investigate the single-channel properties of different gating modes in the native human cardiac Na+ channel. Patch-clamp experiments were performed at low noise using ultrathick-walled pipettes. In 17 cell-attached patches containing only one channel, fast back and forth switching between five different Na+-channel gating modes (F-mode, M1-mode, M2-mode, S-mode, and P-mode) was identified, but no difference in the gating properties was found between normal and diseased cardiomyocytes from atrium or ventricle, respectively. Hodgkin-Huxley fits to the ensemble-averaged currents yielded the activation-time (tau(m)) and inactivation-time (tau(h)) constants. tau(m) was comparably fast in the F-mode, M1-mode, M2-mode, and S-mode (0.15 ms) and slow in the P-mode (0.3 ms). tau(h) ranged from 0.35 ms (F-mode) to 4.5 ms (S-mode and P-mode). The mean open-channel lifetime (tau(o)) was shortest in the F-mode and P-mode (0.15 ms) and longest in the S-mode (1.25 ms). The time before which half of the first channel openings occurred (t(0.5)) was comparably short in the F-mode, M1-mode, M2-mode, and S-mode (0.3 ms) and long in the P-mode (0.9 ms). It is concluded that (1) a single native human cardiac Na+ channel can be recorded at low noise, (2) this channel can change its gating properties at a time scale of milliseconds, (3) lifetimes of the observed gating modes are short ranging from milliseconds to seconds only, and (4) the gating modes are characterized by specific activation and inactivation kinetics and differ at least in their mean open time and first latency.