Saxitoxin blocks batrachotoxin-modified sodium channels in the node of Ranvier in a voltage-dependent manner

The inhibition by saxitoxin (STX) of single Na channels incorporated into planar lipid bilayers and modified by batrachotoxin (BTX) previously has been shown to be voltage dependent (Krueger, B.K.,J.F. Worley, and R. J. French, 1983, Nature [Lond.], 303:172-175; Moczydlowski, E., S. Hall, S. S. Garber, G. S. Strichartz, and C. Miller, 1984, J. Gen. Physiol., 84:687-704). We tested for such a voltage dependence of STX block of the Na current in voltage-clamped frog nodes of Ranvier. The block by STX of normal Na channels showed no modulation in response to maintained (20 s) changes of the membrane potential or to a train of brief pulses to potentials more positive than the holding potential. However, when the nodal channels were modified by BTX, the train of pulses produced a modulation of the block of the Na current by STX. The modulation of STX block depended on the voltage of the conditioning pulses and this voltage dependence agreed well with that predicted from the single channel studies over the membrane potential range used in those studies. In addition, we found that the voltage dependence of STX block was manifest only at potentials equal to or more positive than required to activate the channels. Most of the apparent differences among data from single channels in bilayers, equilibrium binding studies of STX, and the experiments described here are resolved by the hypotheses that (a) STX binding to open channels is voltage dependent, and (b) the affinities of STX for closed and inactivated channels are independent of voltage, equal, and less than the open channel affinity at potentials less than 0 mV. Whether these hypotheses apply to the STX block of all Na channels or just of BTX-modified channels remains to be determined.