Monoclonal antibodies against the voltage-sensitive sodium channel from rat skeletal muscle: mapping antibody binding sites.

Twenty-one monoclonal antibodies specific for the rat skeletal muscle voltage-sensitive sodium channel have been characterized according to subunit reactivity, recognition of carbohydrates, and mutual binding interactions. All antibodies recognize the 260-kDa alpha-subunit of the sodium channel on immunoblots. N-Acetylneuraminic acid inhibited the binding of five antibodies in a concentration-dependent manner, but five other monosaccharides known to be components of the channel had no effect on antibody binding. Competition studies using biosynthetically labeled antibodies separated these 21 antibodies into groups recognizing at least nine distinct domains. Through common interactions between domains, these could in turn be associated into two larger topologically related regions. One region encompasses seven interacting domains and 16 antibodies. This region is probably extracellular by virtue of the interaction of one subgroup with N-acetylneuraminic acid, and may represent a particularly immunogenic region on this channel protein.

Voltage-sensitive sodium channels: an evolving molecular view.

Sodium channel proteins have now been isolated from a number of nerve and muscle preparations. All are characterized by the presence of a very large glycoprotein subunit of approximately 260 kilodaltons which may contain the structural features required for voltage-dependent channel gating and cation selectivity. These purified proteins have been reconstituted into vesicle systems and planar bilayers and demonstrate the ensemble and single-channel behavior characteristic of the native sodium channel. Although the sodium channel from eel appears to consist of only the 260-kilodalton protein, the channels from rat brain and rat or rabbit skeletal muscle contain one or more smaller subunits of 37-39 kilodaltons. In skeletal muscle, a 38-kilodalton subunit is present in both conventionally purified channel and channel isolated with immunoaffinity techniques. The stoichiometry of the large (alpha) and the small (beta) subunits appears to be 1:1 in skeletal muscle but 1:2 in rat brain. The role of the small subunits in the normal functioning of the sodium channel remains to be defined.

Immunoaffinity isolation of Na+ channels from rat skeletal muscle. Analysis of subunits.

Polyclonal antiserum and monoclonal antibodies raised against the sodium channel from rat skeletal muscle sarcolemma have been immobilized on Sepharose and used to immunoaffinity purify this channel directly from skeletal muscle without the intervening purification of surface membranes. These antibodies isolate a approximately 260-kDa protein from whole muscle, although each purifies predominantly a 150-kDa component when isolated sarcolemmal membranes are used as starting material. A 45-kDa band is also found in the material purified from sarcolemma but not that obtained from whole muscle. In addition, these immunoaffinity columns isolate a 38-kDa band from both whole muscle and sarcolemma that copurifies with the 260-kDa protein. In some preparations this component appears as two closely spaced bands of 37 and 39 kDa. These small subunits coelute with the 260-kDa subunit when thiocyanate gradients are used to displace protein bound to the immunoaffinity columns and behave as integral components of the sodium channel. Estimates of stoichiometry were made for the large and small subunits of the muscle channel protein. After correction for labeling efficiency, values consistent with a ratio of one 260-kDa subunit to one 38-kDa subunit were obtained. We conclude that the rat skeletal muscle sodium channel contains a large alpha subunit of approximately 260 kDa that is sensitive to proteolytic nicking during the isolation of sarcolemmal membranes. In addition, at least one 38-kDa beta subunit is associated with each alpha subunit in the native channel.

Monoclonal antibodies against the voltage-sensitive Na+ channel from mammalian skeletal muscle.

A panel of 13 monoclonal antibodies against the voltage-sensitive Na+ channel of rat skeletal muscle has been characterized. Each of these antibodies reacted with the purified Na+ channel protein in a solid-phase radioimmunoassay. Nine antibodies specifically immunoprecipitated the Na+ channel in a form that retained its characteristic high affinity for saxitoxin, and 11 recognized the channel in a crude mixture of solubilized membrane proteins separated on a Sepharose CL-6B column. Six antibodies specifically labeled skeletal muscle in immunofluorescence techniques. In each case, antibody was localized only to the surface membrane of the muscle fibers. Eleven antibodies produced detectable reaction on immunoblot transfers of sarcolemmal membrane proteins; each of these bound to a diffuse 160- to 200-kDa band that comigrated with the large glycoprotein subunit of the purified Na+ channel. Further studies were carried out with one of these antibodies, L/D3. In immunoblots of a glycoprotein fraction prepared from muscle that had been homogenized rapidly in a solution containing detergent, EGTA, and protease inhibitors, L/D3 recognized only a single 260-kDa band. Incubation of solubilized muscle proteins at 4 degrees C for 24 hr without EGTA prior to isolation of the glycoprotein fraction resulted in partial conversion of this 260-kDa component to a smaller component between 160 and 200 kDa that comigrated with the principal immunoreactive component of sarcolemma. Based on its immunoreactivity with monoclonal antibodies, the large subunit of the rat skeletal muscle Na+ channel appears to be approximately equal to 260 kDa in its native state but may be sensitive to proteolysis during the isolation of sarcolemmal membranes.