What is Nav 1. 2?
Nav1. 2, also known as the sodium channel, voltage-gated, type II, alpha subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SCN2A gene. Functional sodium channels contain an ion conductive alpha subunit and one or more regulatory beta subunits.
What genes encode for Nav 1. 2?
Mutations of the SCN2A gene, which encodes the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.2, have been associated to a wide spectrum of epileptic disorders ranging from mild forms, as benign familial neonatal-infantile seizures (BFNIS), to very severe ones, as early-infantile epileptic encephalopathies, Ohtahara syndrome or …
What is SCN2A mutation?
All children with SCN2A-related disorders have a pathogenic variant (mutation) in the gene SCN2A, which encodes the instructions to make a protein in the brain called a sodium channel. Pathogenic variants that affect the SCN2A sodium channel impair the flow of sodium ions in the brain.
What is a voltage-gated sodium ion channel?
Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels are integral membrane proteins that change conformation in response to depolarization of the membrane potential, open a transmembrane pore, and conduct sodium ions inward to initiate and propagate action potentials (1).
What is SCN2A life expectancy?
Dravet syndrome is a rare, severe, and lifelong form of epilepsy (seizure disorder). Most people affected by this condition have a good life expectancy. The disease typically starts in the first year of life, and around 80-85% of the children survive into adulthood.
Is there a cure for Dravet syndrome?
Although there is no cure for Dravet syndrome, most treatments aim to reduce seizures. First line anti-seizure medications include clobazam (Onfi, Frisium) and valproic acid (Depakote, Depakene).
Is SCN2A hereditary?
SCN2A mutations may be inherited from a parent or may occur for the first time in a child with an SCN2A related disorder (a de novo mutation). Treatment depends on symptoms and severity, but often includes antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).
What happens if Na+ channels are blocked?
Complete block of sodium channels would be lethal. However, these drugs selectively block sodium channels in depolarized and/or rapidly firing cells, such as axons carrying high-intensity pain information and rapidly firing nerve and cardiac muscle cells that drive epileptic seizures or cardiac arrhythmias.
Why is it important for voltage-gated sodium channels to have 2 gates?
Voltage-gated Na+ channels have two gates: an activation gate and an inactivation gate. … Therefore, it is not possible for the sodium channels to open again without first repolarizing the nerve fiber. When the Na+ channels are open at the axon hillock, the local membrane potential quickly becomes positive.
What triggers the opening of voltage-gated Na+ channels?
All the voltage-gated Sodium channels open when the membrane potential reaches around -55 mV and there’s a large influx of Sodium, causing a sharp rise in voltage. … The depolarization of the cell stops and repolarisation can occur through these voltage-gated Potassium channels.
Is SCN2A fatal?
SCN2A is crucial for early neurodevelopment and has function implication in therapeutic intervention. From the animal study, SCN2A knockouts (Scn2a-/) is perinatally lethal with severe hypoxia and massive neuronal apoptosis.
Does Dravet syndrome get worse?
It is lifelong. It usually presents with a prolonged seizure with fever that affects one side of the body. Most cases are due to severe SCN1A gene mutations. Most children develop varying degrees of developmental disability.
What type of seizure is status epilepticus?
A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than 1 seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes is called status epilepticus. This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.
Is Dravet syndrome drug resistant?
Background: The Dravet syndrome is a complex childhood epilepsy disorder that is associated with drug-resistant seizures and a high mortality rate. We studied cannabidiol for the treatment of drug-resistant seizures in the Dravet syndrome.
Does CBD help Dravet syndrome?
CBD resulted in a significant decrease of convulsive seizures and seizures of all types in Dravet syndrome, a pharmacoresistant epilepsy known to be associated with high mortality rates.
What is Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome?
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) and Dravet Syndrome (DS) are two of the various, rare epileptic disorders classified as epileptic encephalopathies. LGS is estimated to occur in 0.1 to 0.28 people per 100,000 and is believed to account for one to four percent of all cases of childhood epilepsy.
What does SCN2A mean?
SCN2A is the name of a gene that codes for part of the sodium or salt channel. This is an electrically activated gate in the brain which allows sodium in and out of neurones [cells that conduct nerve impulses], affecting the excitability of the brain.
What is West syndrome?
West syndrome is a constellation of symptoms characterized by epileptic/infantile spasms, abnormal brain wave patterns called hypsarrhythmia and intellectual disability.
What is SLC6A1 disease?
SLC6A1 epileptic encephalopathy is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder characterized by the loss-of-function of one copy of the human SLC6A1 gene. Clinical manifestation of SLC6A1 epileptic encephalopathy is characterized by early onset seizures (mean onset 3.7 years) and mild to severe intellectual disability.
What does lidocaine do to neurons?
Conclusion: Lidocaine increases intracellular sodium concentration and promotes excitation through voltage-dependent sodium channels by altering membrane potential in the respiratory pacemaker neuron.
What ion channel is blocked by lidocaine?
Lidocaine binds to voltage-gated sodium channels in a 1: 1 fashion and prevents the flow of sodium ions through the channel pore.
What drugs are potassium channel blockers?
Class 3 are potassium channel blockers amiodarone, dronedarone, bretylium, sotalol, ibutilide, and dofetilide.
What is the role of voltage-gated channels?
Voltage-gated ion channels (VGICs) are transmembrane proteins that play important roles in the electrical signaling of cells. The activity of VGICs is regulated by the membrane potential of a cell, and open channels allow the movement of ions along an electrochemical gradient across cellular membranes.
What happens when some Na+ gates open?
When changes occurring in the membranes of the dendrites and the body of the cell reach the axon, the sodium gates respond: some of them open and let sodium ions in, so that the inside starts to become less negative. If this reaches a certain level, called a threshold, more sodium gates respond and let more ions in…
What is the stimulus that opens the voltage-gated potassium channels?
Depolarization is caused when positively charged sodium ions rush into a neuron with the opening of voltage-gated sodium channels. Repolarization is caused by the closing of sodium ion channels and the opening of potassium ion channels.

Graduated from ENSAT (national agronomic school of Toulouse) in plant sciences in 2018, I pursued a CIFRE doctorate under contract with Sun’Agri and INRAE in Avignon between 2019 and 2022. My thesis aimed to study dynamic agrivoltaic systems, in my case in arboriculture. I love to write and share science related Stuff Here on my Website. I am currently continuing at Sun’Agri as an R&D engineer.