elegans preparation ( Kawano et al., 2011). First, we identified a Na+ leak current in AVA that depends, in part, on NLF-1 and NCA (Figures 4A–4C and 4G). In wild-type animals, this leak conductance was voltage-independent (Figures S4A and S4B), regulated by extracellular Na+

(Figures 4A–4C), and was partially and reversibly blocked by Gd3+ across potentials (Figures selleck chemical S4A–S4E). In both nlf-1 and nca(lf) mutants, this Na+ leak current was significantly reduced ( Figures 4A, 4B, 4G, and S4A). Gd3+ failed to block the residual Na+ leak currents in either mutant ( Figures S4C–S4E). These results imply that NLF-1 and the NCA channel account for the Gd3+-sensitive Na+ leak current. The reduced Na+ leak current

in AVA in nlf-1 mutants was fully rescued by restoring NLF-1 expression in AVA ( Figure 4G; Pnmr-1, Prig-3). The NLF-1/NCA-mediated Na+ leak current is critical for the maintenance of neuronal RMP. In both nlf-1 and nca(lf) mutants, AVA became hyperpolarized (∼−30 mV versus ∼−20 mV in wild-type Galunisertib animals; Figures 4D and 4H). This defect was fully rescued when NLF-1 was restored in AVA of nlf-1 mutants ( Figure 4H; Pnmr-1, Prig-3). AVA RMP depended on extracellular Na+. In wild-type, nlf-1 and nca(lf) animals, removal of extracellular Na+ all led to a hyperpolarization of AVA ( Figures 4D–4F). The decrease, however, was significantly less in nlf-1 and nca(lf) ( Figures 4E and 4F). Moreover, consistent with NCA and NLF-1 constituting the Gd3+-sensitive sodium leak currents, Gd3+ led to prominent AVA hyperpolarization in wild-type animals ( Figures S4F–S4H), but not in nlf-1 and nca(lf) mutants

( Figures S4F–S4G). Lastly, nlf-1;nca(lf) double mutants did not exhibit a further decrease in either the Na+ leak current, or the RMP of AVA, from nlf-1 or nca(lf) ( Figures 4G and 4H; nca(lf) in the nlf-1(lf) subsection). Taken together, NLF-1 contributes to an NCA channel-mediated Na+ leak current that maintains the RMP, hence the excitability and activity of C. elegans premotor interneurons. How does an ER protein regulate neuronal excitability? Channels are synthesized and assembled at the ER prior Levetiracetam to their delivery to the plasma membrane (Deutsch, 2003). We investigated a hypothesis that NLF-1 is an ER resident protein specifically required for the folding, assembly, and delivery of the NCA Na+ leak channel by examining the localization of its known subunits. In nlf-1 mutants, all known NCA channel subunits, functional NCA-1::GFP ( Figure 5A), NCA-2::GFP ( Figure 5A), UNC-79::GFP ( Figure S5A), and UNC-80::RFP reporters ( Figure S5B), exhibited a drastic reduction in axon membrane localization.