© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cellular Biology |
Distribution of a Persistent Sodium Current Across the Ventricular Wall in Guinea Pigs
From the University Laboratory of Physiology (B.F.A.S.S., A.J.S., K.W.L., D.N.) and Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital (S.M.B.), Oxford, UK.
Correspondence to Denis Noble, University Laboratory of Physiology, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. E-mail denis.noble{at}physiol.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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Abstract—A tetrodotoxin-sensitive persistent sodium current, IpNa, was found in guinea pig ventricular myocytes by whole-cell patch clamping. This current was characterized in cells derived from the basal left ventricular subendocardium, midmyocardium, and subepicardium. Midmyocardial cells show a statistically significant (P<0.05) smaller IpNa than subendocardial and subepicardial myocytes. There was no significant difference in IpNa current density between subepicardial and subendocardial cells. Computer modeling studies support a role of this current in the dispersion of action potential duration across the ventricular wall.
Key Words: persistent sodium current • guinea pig ventricle • regional differences
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsDiscussionReferences |
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First indications for a slowly inactivating, persistent sodium current in cardiac cells came from studies on Purkinje fibers of dogs and rabbits.1 2 This was followed by the discovery of slowly inactivating sodium channels in ventricular myocytes of rats.3
Subsequently, a small late sodium current was described in guinea pig ventricular myocytes using single-channel and whole-cell patch clamping.4 This study also suggested a significant effect of the late sodium current on action potential duration in ventricular cells: application of 60 µmol/L tetrodotoxin (TTX) reversibly shortened action potential duration at 95% repolarization (ADP95) by about 10%. Kiyosue et al4 speculated that this was because of block of slowly inactivating sodium channels.
Additional studies investigated the changes in the I-V relation of a slowly inactivating, TTX-sensitive sodium current (IpNa) in rat ventricular myocytes in the absence and presence of hypoxia.5 6 This persistent sodium current increased during hypoxia, and, thus, it was suggested that it could be involved in the development of early after depolarizations (EADs) and arrhythmias during hypoxic states. Most recently, Maltsev et al7 showed that a persistent sodium current (which they called the late sodium current) is present in ventricular myocytes from human midmyocardium in normal donor hearts and heart failure patients. Interestingly, they found a similar (15% to 20%) reduction in action potential duration (APD) after application of 1.5 µmol/L TTX, as previously described4 in guinea pigs. They also showed that TTX abolished EADs in myocytes isolated from heart failure patients. Computer modeling studies fit these data surprisingly well. It has been demonstrated8 that EADs can be induced in a cell model by increasing IpNa; this mechanism also requires that the inactivation curve of the fast sodium current is shifted in the depolarizing direction, as has been observed in an SCN5A missense mutation.9 An increase in late sodium current is also present in some well-known genetic predispositions to arrhythmias, for example, one type of the long-QT syndrome.10
IpNa is distinct from the sodium background current IbNa, which is TTX-insensitive.11 Furthermore, IbNa has a linear voltage dependence, whereas IpNa has an I-V relation similar to that of the fast sodium current. IpNa is also different from the sodium window current,12 which is attributed to the overlap of the activation and inactivation curves of the fast sodium current in this region. The window current is TTX-sensitive but present only at much more negative voltages.
Computer modeling studies suggest that the magnitude of IpNa in guinea pig ventricular myocytes can have very large effects on the action potential plateau duration.13 Therefore, it is important to determine the exact magnitude of IpNa in such cells.
It is well-known that APD varies in myocytes from across the ventricular wall. The slow component of the delayed rectifier current Iks is at least in part responsible for the differences in APD. However, another possible mechanism could be a differential distribution in the transmural levels of IpNa, because it significantly prolongs APD in computer models, a finding supported by the available experimental evidence described above.
The aim of this study was, firstly, to determine the size and current-voltage relation of the persistent sodium current in guinea pig ventricular myocytes and, secondly, to test the hypothesis that differences in transmural distribution of persistent sodium current may contribute to the variation in APD across the ventricular wall.
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Materials and Methods |
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Myocyte Preparation
Myocytes from subendocardium, midmyocardium, and subepicardium were prepared as previously described.14
Solutions
The following solutions were used for all
experiments, unless stated otherwise.
External solution (mmol/L): NaCl 130, KCl 5.4, CaCl2 1.8, MgCl2 1, glucose 10, HEPES 30, BaCl2 2, glibenclamide 20 µmol/L, and nifedipine 10 µmol/L; pH 7.4 with NaOH.
Internal solution (mmol/L): NaF 10, CsF 109, MgCl2 1, BAPTA 10, TrisATP 5, TEA-Cl 20, TrisCrP 5, and HEPES 5; pH 7.4 with CsOH.
For the Li-replacement experiments, 130 mmol/L LiCl was used to replace 130 mmol/L NaCl in the external solution, and 10 mmol/L LiCl replaced the internal NaF.
For the cadmium (Cd)-block experiments, 100 µmol/L CdCl was added to the external solution.
The standard Tyrode solution contained (mmol/L): NaCl 140, KCl 5.4, CaCl2 1.8, MgCl2 1.0, Na2PO4 0.33, glucose 5, and HEPES 5; adjusted to pH 7.4 with NaOH; osmolarity: 310 mmol/L.
Electrophysiological Procedures
Myocytes were allowed to settle for 
5 minutes onto
the cover slip of a perfusion chamber situated on the stage of an
inverted microscope (Diaphot, Nikon). Initially, the cells were
superfused with standard Tyrode solution (flow rate 1 to 2 mL/min)
at 36°C.
The cells were then voltage clamped in the whole-cell configuration
using 1-mm-square borosilicate glass electrodes of 2 to 5 M
resistance filled with internal solution. Superfusion with the external
solution specified above was started. The currents were recorded using
Axon Instruments equipment (Axopatch 200B and Digidata 1200) and
software (Clampex, sampling rate 5 kHz, signal Bessel filtered at 1
kHz).
The size of the transient sodium current was monitored every 10 seconds with a 100-ms clamp step from a holding potential of -100 to 0 mV.
After 2 minutes, the voltage step-protocol shown in
Figure 1
(inset) was applied. TTX 63 µmol/L was allowed to
wash on for about 3 minutes, and the protocol was repeated.
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For the calculation of membrane capacitance, a voltage ramp (from -40 to -50 mV, slope: 5.5 V/s) was applied, and the capacitance was calculated offline by dividing dQ/dt, which corresponds to the maximal current measured (I0) by dV/dt.
Data Analysis
Currents were leak subtracted offline using pClamp 6.
The difference currents (control and TTX) were calculated. The size of
the difference current was measured as the average between 300 and 350
ms after the onset of the depolarizing pulse. Data collected from the
same region of the ventricle were averaged, and SEM was calculated.
Student’s t test was performed
(using Sigma Plot 5.0) on the averages of the 3 different regions.
P<0.05 was taken as
statistically significant.
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Results |
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Isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes from subendocardium, midmyocardium, and subepicardium were voltage-clamped using the ruptured whole-cell patch-clamp technique described above.
Examples of original traces, recorded using the protocol
described above, are shown under control conditions and after
application of TTX
(Figure 1
).
Figure 2 shows the magnitudes of the difference currents
(before and after application of 63 µmol/L TTX) determined as the
average between 300 and 350 ms after the onset of depolarization. The
size of the difference currents did not change significantly when
measured as the average between 700 and 900 ms. However, the difference
currents were larger when measured at 150 ms after the onset of
depolarization (data not shown).
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, n=20), and subepicardium (
, n=13). Data
points were measured as current density averages (±SEM) between 300
and 350 ms after the onset of
depolarization.The I-V relations indicate that this late TTX-sensitive current (IpNa) is about equally large in subepicardial (n=13) and subendocardial (n=18) cells and smaller in midmyocardial (n=20) cells.
The differences are statistically significant for the midmyocardium and endocardium and midmyocardium and epicardium means between -50 and 0 mV (P<0.01 for the region -50 to -20 mV and P<0.05 for -10 and 0 mV). Subepicardial IpNa is indistinguishable from subendocardial IpNa. The maximal current at membrane potentials of -30 to -20 mV is subendocardium -0.36±0.03 pA/pF, midmyocardium -0.23±0.02 pA/pF, and subepicardium -0.40±0.04 pA/pF.
There was no significant difference between the membrane capacitances of subendocardial (149±8 pF, n=18), midmyocardial (153±8 pF, n=20), and subepicardial (152±10 pF, n=13) cells.
Control Experiments
To exclude the influence of the
Na+-Ca2+
exchanger on
IpNa
measurement in our conditions, NaCl was replaced by LiCl. Sodium
channels are highly permeable to lithium, which, on the other hand, has
been reported to block the
Na+-Ca2+
exchanger.15
Ventricular myocytes isolated from bulk ventricular tissue
were tested after LiCl was used to replace NaCl in the external and
internal solutions. The experiments described above were repeated, and
the resultant I-V relation
(Figure 3) was found to be very similar to the
I-V relation for midmyocardial
cells shown in
Figure 2 (n=8).
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To test the hypothesis that the TTX-sensitive current observed is attributable to influx through TTX-sensitive calcium channels that has recently been described,16 100 µmol/L Cd was added to the external solution. Cd at this concentration has been reported to produce a near-complete block of calcium currents.17 However, the IpNa I-V relationship in the presence of 100 µmol/L Cd is not significantly altered (n=3; average current density at -20 mV with 100 µmol/L Cd: -0.18±0.02 pA/pF versus -0.23±0.02 pA/pF in midmyocardial cells under control conditions).
Additional evidence that IpNa is not carried by calcium ions was obtained under experimental conditions with reduced (0.2 mmol/L) calcium in the external solution. The I-V relation of IpNa obtained under these conditions is qualitatively similar to those obtained in 1.8 mmol/L calcium (n=4; average current density at -20 mV with 0.2 mmol/L calcium: -0.21±0.08 pA/pF versus -0.23±0.02 pA/pF in midmyocardial cells under control conditions).
Previous
work5 7 suggested a
block of the persistent sodium current by small (0.1 to 1.5 µmol/L)
concentrations of TTX in rat and human myocytes. Thus, we determined
the sensitivity of
IpNa to
block by TTX in guinea pig ventricular myocytes
(Figure 4). TTX 1.5 µmol/L was sufficient to block
IpNa;
however, application of 0.5 µmol/L TTX failed to produce a
block.
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Computer Modeling Analysis
The experimentally obtained
I-V relations were fitted by
the least-squares method to the general function:
I=G(V-E)/(1+exp[V'-V]/k),
where I is the current,
V is the voltage,
G is the maximum
IpNa
conductance, E is the sodium
equilibrium potential, V' is
the voltage at half-maximal activation, and
k is the slope factor. For the
purposes of the calculation, a reversal potential of +50 mV was assumed
to avoid outward sodium current at potentials positive to the
experimentally observed reversal potentials (which are around +33 mV).
Incorporation of these I-V
relationships into the standard guinea pig ventricular cell model in
OXSOFT Heart 4.8 produced an increase in APD
(Figure 5). The extent of the increase is related to the
amplitude of the persistent sodium current. Note that the different
IpNa
formulations were applied to the same basic cell model, ie, there was
no difference in the models used for the 3 regions, except for
IpNa.
Obviously, this is an oversimplification to illustrate specifically the
particular contribution of
IpNa to
APD differences in subendocardium, midmyocardium, and
subepicardium.
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). The same basic cell model was used for all 3 regions, the
only difference being the size of
IpNa.
The computed change in APD is most likely an
underestimation, because in the computation it was assumed that
IpNa has
no time dependence and was taken as the experimentally observed average
current between 300 and 350 ms after depolarization.
IpNa is
larger if defined as the TTX-sensitive current present earlier on
during depolarization. Nevertheless, even relatively small amounts of
IpNa
would significantly prolong APD
(Figure 5). Differences in
IpNa
across the ventricle could thus contribute to APD
variations.
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsDiscussionReferences |
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The results presented here establish the presence and relative magnitude of IpNa in guinea pig myocytes from the basal free left ventricle. There is a clear difference in the size of IpNa transmurally. Perhaps surprisingly, IpNa is smallest in the midmyocardium and of about equal size in the subepicardium and subendocardium.
It is interesting to compare our results with those on rat myocytes (B.N. Honen and D.A. Saint, unpublished data, May 2000). There is agreement in both species on the experimental side in showing that there are no large gradients of persistent sodium current between the epicardial and endocardial surfaces. However, when computations are done on the very different action potential shapes in the 2 species, the results are quite different. As shown here in the guinea pig (and presumably also in humans and in other species in which the action potential plateau is high and long lasting), the contribution of IpNa is significantly large. In the rat, however, with a much faster early repolarization phase and a low plateau, computations suggest virtually no contribution to determining action potential duration (P. Noble, unpublished data, May 2000).
IpNa is smallest in midmyocardial tissue, where it has been assumed to be largest, particularly in M cells.18 This discrepancy can be explained in several ways. IpNa could be smallest in M cells despite their long APD, assuming that differences in other currents, such as Ik, are responsible for their long APD. Alternatively, M cells could be a small subset of all midmyocardial cells and, therefore, only occasionally observed in midmyocardial single-cell preparations. In agreement with this, several studies 19 20 21 failed to show significant evidence of M cells in guinea pig, rat, and pig hearts.
IpNa is more TTX-sensitive than INa but has similarly shaped I-V relation. It is identified as a current carried by sodium ions. This is on the basis of the following evidence: IpNa is reversibly blocked by TTX and is still present when sodium is replaced by lithium, a blocker of the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger15 ; it is still present when 100 µmol/L Cd is added, a blocker of Ca2+ channels17 ; and lowering the external calcium concentration from 1.8 to 0.2 mmol/L does not greatly affect the I-V relationship.
Main et al14
observed that 0.1 µmol/L TTX shortens APD90 in
guinea pigs by about 36% in subendocardial myocytes, 16% in
midmyocardial myocytes, and 20% in subepicardial myocytes. This result
only partly matches the computer modeling predictions if one assumes
that the principal effect by which TTX shortened
APD90 was through block of
IpNa. On
the basis of the model, one would expect TTX to shorten subendocardial
and subepicardial APD about equally and midmyocardial APD the least
(Figure 5). One explanation for this difference could be that
these authors used apical subepicardial cells and basal subendocardial
and midmyocardial cells, whereas the experiments described above were
performed solely on cells from the base of the guinea pig heart. If
there was a base-to-apex gradient of
IpNa,
subepicardial cells from the apex would not necessarily have the same
amount of
IpNa as
subepicardial cells from the base. Nevertheless, the effect of TTX on
APD seems to be of comparable magnitude to the effect of
IpNa on
APD in the computer model. In the model, APD90
is shortened by 15% through
IpNa
block in midmyocardium, 25% in subepicardium, and 21% in
subendocardium.
The differences in APD shown in
Figure 5 are relatively small, and one could argue that
these differences will be masked by the variability in APD observed in
single-cell studies, which is often much larger. On a single-cell
level, this view is undoubtedly correct. However, it has been shown
theoretically22 that when
myocytes communicate electrically via gap junctions, the variability in
APD is smoothed out and becomes relatively equal for all connected
cells. When there are systematic differences between distant but
connected regions, APD will vary in a systematic manner between those
regions. Thus, even though one could expect the differences computed
above to be nonsignificant in the face of random variation in APD in
individual isolated myocytes, on a tissue level they are likely to be
relevant. This is also the reason that we could not measure the effects
of low-dose TTX on APD. The variation between individual myocytes from
the same region is much greater than any systematic variations between
regions.
In this study, we also noticed a discrepancy between the
expected and the observed reversal potentials. The experimentally
observed average reversal potential of
IpNa
lies at +33.5 mV. The calculated reversal potential for sodium at
36°C with the solutions used is about +69 mV. The full reasons for
this discrepancy are unclear. Sodium channels are known to show a small
(10%) permeability to K+ ions, which
would account for 20 mV of the difference. This would give a
reversal potential +50 mV, as assumed in the calculations. An
additional factor in the present work is that at positive potentials,
IpNa
forms a very small fraction of the total current, which is strongly
outward in this potential range. Small errors attributable to
inadequacy of voltage clamping would make a large difference to the
measured reversal potential, particularly if the clamp errors differ in
the presence and absence of TTX.
It is still not clear which Na+ channel type is responsible for IpNa. Two types of late channel openings described as burst and background were identified in guinea pig ventricular myocytes and rabbit Purkinje and ventricular myocytes.4 23 These discrete channel openings could represent different modes of function of the same Na+ channel. The burst sodium channel activity decreased with time, and inactivation was complete; however, this was not the case with background channels,3 because these only partly inactivated. Thus, it is possible that fast sodium channels in the background mode are the source of IpNa. Alternatively, it has been proposed that a naturally occurring isoform of the fast sodium current could account for the persistent sodium current.7 The techniques used in the present paper, which enabled IpNa to be recorded in close to normal physiological conditions, do not allow accurate recording of the fast sodium current, so these questions must be left to future studies.
In conclusion, this study establishes the presence of IpNa in guinea pig ventricular myocytes and demonstrates that midmyocardial myocytes have a lower density of IpNa than subendocardial and subepicardial cells. These differences could be important in contributing to the variation in APD across the ventricle.
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Acknowledgments |
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The work in this laboratory is supported by the British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council. We would like to thank our colleagues of the Oxford Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Group and, in particular, Patricia Cooper, Victor Twist, and Dr Peter Kohl for his helpful comments on the manuscript.
Received May 10, 2000; revision received October 4, 2000; accepted October 4, 2000.
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 V. A. Maltsev and A. I. Undrovinas A multi-modal composition of the late Na+ current in human ventricular cardiomyocytes Cardiovasc Res, January 1, 2006; 69(1): 116 - 127. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C. I. Spencer and J. S. K. Sham Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of the Pyrethroid Tefluthrin on Action Potential Duration in Isolated Rat Ventricular Myocytes J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., October 1, 2005; 315(1): 16 - 23. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 D. Darbar, T. Yang, K. Churchwell, A. A.M. Wilde, and D. M. Roden Unmasking of Brugada Syndrome by Lithium Circulation, September 13, 2005; 112(11): 1527 - 1531. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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J. Magyar, C. E. Kiper, R. Dumaine, D. E. Burgess, T. Banyasz, and J. Satin Divergent action potential morphologies reveal nonequilibrium properties of human cardiac Na channels Cardiovasc Res, December 1, 2004; 64(3): 477 - 487. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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K. H. W. J. ten Tusscher, D. Noble, P. J. Noble, and A. V. Panfilov A model for human ventricular tissue Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, April 1, 2004; 286(4): H1573 - H1589. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C. Pinet, B. Le Grand, G. W. John, and A. Coulombe Thrombin Facilitation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Activation in Human Cardiomyocytes: Implications for Ischemic Sodium Loading Circulation, October 15, 2002; 106(16): 2098 - 2103. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C.-E. Chiang, H.-N. Luk, T.-M. Wang, and P. Y.-A. Ding Effects of sildenafil on cardiac repolarization Cardiovasc Res, August 1, 2002; 55(2): 290 - 299. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 G. A. Papadatos, P. M. R. Wallerstein, C. E. G. Head, R. Ratcliff, P. A. Brady, K. Benndorf, R. C. Saumarez, A. E. O. Trezise, C. L.-H. Huang, J. I. Vandenberg, et al. From the Cover: Slowed conduction and ventricular tachycardia after targeted disruption of the cardiac sodium channel gene Scn5a PNAS, April 30, 2002; 99(9): 6210 - 6215. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. I Fahmi, M. Patel, E. B Stevens, A. L Fowden, J. E. John III, K. Lee, R. Pinnock, K. Morgan, A. P Jackson, and J. I Vandenberg The sodium channel {beta}-subunit SCN3b modulates the kinetics of SCN5a and is expressed heterogeneously in sheep heart J. Physiol., December 15, 2001; 537(3): 693 - 700. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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S. M Ashamalla, D. Navarro, and C. A Ward Gradient of sodium current across the left ventricular wall of adult rat hearts J. Physiol., October 15, 2001; 536(2): 439 - 443. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. C. Zygmunt, G. T. Eddlestone, G. P. Thomas, V. V. Nesterenko, and C. Antzelevitch Larger late sodium conductance in M cells contributes to electrical heterogeneity in canine ventricle Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, August 1, 2001; 281(2): H689 - H697. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C. Antzelevitch Electrical Heterogeneity, Cardiac Arrhythmias, and the Sodium Channel Circ. Res., November 24, 2000; 87(11): 964 - 965. [Full Text] [PDF]
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G. A. Papadatos, P. M. R. Wallerstein, C. E. G. Head, R. Ratcliff, P. A. Brady, K. Benndorf, R. C. Saumarez, A. E. O. Trezise, C. L.-H. Huang, J. I. Vandenberg, et al. From the Cover: Slowed conduction and ventricular tachycardia after targeted disruption of the cardiac sodium channel gene Scn5a PNAS, April 30, 2002; 99(9): 6210 - 6215. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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