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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on July 25, 2006
Chemical Senses 2006 31(7):673-680; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl008
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effect of Ciguatoxin 3C on Voltage-Gated Na+ and K+ Currents in Mouse Taste Cells

Valeria Ghiaroni1, Haruhiko Fuwa2, Masayuki Inoue3, Makoto Sasaki2, Keisuke Miyazaki3, Masahiro Hirama3, Takeshi Yasumoto4, Gian Paolo Rossini1, Giuseppe Scalera1 and Albertino Bigiani1

1 Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 41100 Modena, Italy 2 Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555, Japan 3 Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan 4 Japan Food Research Laboratory, Tama Laboratories, Tokyo 206-0025, Japan

Correspondence to be sent to: Albertino Bigiani, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 41100 Modena, Italy. e-mail: bigiani{at}unimore.it

The marine dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus produces highly lipophilic, polycyclic ether toxins that cause a seafood poisoning called ciguatera. Ciguatoxins (CTXs) and gambierol represent the two major causative agents of ciguatera intoxication, which include taste alterations (dysgeusiae). However, information on the mode of action of ciguatera toxins in taste cells is scarce. Here, we have studied the effect of synthetic CTX3C (a CTX congener) on mouse taste cells. By using the patch-clamp technique to monitor membrane ion currents, we found that CTX3C markedly affected the operation of voltage-gated Na+ channels but was ineffective on voltage-gated K+ channels. This result was the exact opposite of what we obtained earlier with gambierol, which inhibits K+ channels but not Na+ channels. Thus, CTXs and gambierol affect with high potency the operation of separate classes of voltage-gated ion channels in taste cells. Our data suggest that taste disturbances reported in ciguatera poisoning might be due to the ability of ciguatera toxins to interfere with ion channels in taste buds.

Key words: ciguatera toxins, gustation, patch clamp, taste alteration, voltage-gated ion currents


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