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Identification of sodium channel subtypes induced in cultured retinal pigment epithelium cells
H Dawes1, G Mandel, G Matthews
1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-5230, USA.
Abstract:
Recent electrophysiological experiments have shown that retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells begin to produce neuronal-type voltage-dependent sodium currents when placed in dissociated cell culture. In this study, the sodium channel types induced in cultured rat RPE cells were identified. Sodium channel mRNAs encoding two distinct alpha subunits were detected in the cultured RPE cells, brain type II/IIA, and a novel rat mRNA which we have termed RET1. These two sodium channel types may correspond to the TTX-sensitive and TTX-insensitive components of sodium current reported previously in cultured rat RPE cells.