Abstract
Voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in excitable cells. From pain to heartbeat, these integral membrane proteins are the ignition stations for every sensation and action in human bodies. They are large (>200 kDa, 24 transmembrane helices) multi-domain proteins that couple changes in membrane voltage to the gating cycle of the sodium-selective pore. Nav mutations lead to a multitude of diseases - including chronic pain, cardiac arrhythmia, muscle illnesses, and seizure disorders - and a wide variety of currently used therapeutics block Nav. Despite this, the mechanisms of action of Nav blocking drugs are only modestly understood at this time and many questions remain to be answered regarding their state- and voltage-dependence, as well as the role of the hydrophobic membrane access pathways, or fenestrations, in drug ingress or egress. Nav fenestrations, which are pathways that connect the plasma membrane to the central cavity in the pore domain, were discovered through functional studies more than 40 years ago and once thought to be simple pathways. A variety of recent genetic, structural, and pharmacological data, however, shows that these fenestrations are actually key functional regions of Nav that modulate drug binding, lipid binding, and influence gating behaviors. We discovered that some of the disease mutations that cause arrhythmias alter amino acid residues that line the fenestrations of Nav1.5. This indicates that fenestrations may play a critical role in channel’s gating, and that individual genetic variation may also influence drug access through the fenestrations for resting/inactivated state block. In this review, we will discuss the channelopathies associated with these fenestrations, which we collectively name “Fenestropathy,” and how changes in the fenestrations associated with the opening of the intracellular gate could modulate the state-dependent ingress and egress of drugs binding in the central cavity of voltage gated sodium channels.
Introduction
Voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) are the main triggers and propagators of action potentials (). These proteins were discovered in the 1950s by Hodgkin and Huxley and have since been studied by a variety of techniques, including cloning, overexpression/purification, electrophysiology, pharmacology, and structural biology. These studies have revealed the modular nature of the Nav protein with each channel consisting of a voltage-sensing domain (VSD), linker region (S4–S5 linker), inactivation particle (IFM), and sodium-selective pore domain (PD) that work in concert to couple changes in membrane voltage to changes in membrane flux of sodium (Figures 1A,B). Nine different isoforms (Nav1.1–Nav1.9) have been discovered so far. Missense mutations in any of these regions of the nine different isoforms of Nav lead to alteration of the way bioelectricity is initiated and conducted in any excitable organ, including heart and brain (). Advances in sequencing technology, have recently shown that some of the missense mutations that lead to pathogenic phenotypes are part of an often-overlooked region of the channel, namely its “fenestrations” (Payandeh et al., 2011) (Figures 1C,D). These hydrophobic pathways, which connect the lipid phase of the plasma membrane to the hydrophilic central cavity, are not known to be important in voltage-sensing, gating, or coupling and their role in normal channel function remains unknown, though they have been shown to play a role in drug binding to the PD (; ). Over billions of years of evolution, fenestrations have been conserved structures from prokaryotic to eukaryotic sodium channels (). Structures of different Nav have shown that the size of the fenestrations change during the gating cycle and that channels seem to have fenestrations of different sizes, perhaps reflecting a breadth of functions (Figure 2). Designing new drugs that aim to stabilize a specific functional state or bind to the central cavity should take these qualities into account. In addition to the previous points, we also discovered that some of the Nav channelopathy mutations target fenestrations. In this review, we will shed light on the group of missense mutations that we collectively call “Fenestropathy” that lead to a change of the functionality of channel.
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

Fenestrations with different sizes and architecture in a variety of voltage-gated sodium channels (A) NavAb, (B) Nav1.4, Nav1.5, and Nav1.7 (Pan et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2019;
Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels
Voltage-gated ion channels are transmembrane proteins that provide a hydrophilic pathway for ions, which cannot pass through the plasma membrane due to their charge. The voltage-gated sodium channel, Nav, is composed of a complex containing a pore-forming α-subunit and up to two β-subunits, (
In contrast to eukaryotic NaV channels, bacterial NaV channels are composed of four identical subunits of ∼270 residues. Each subunit has a VSD and a PD (Payandeh et al., 2011) like their eukaryotic peers. They share the major biophysical features with their eukaryotic counterparts (Ren et al., 2001;
Structure-Function of Fenestrations
Fenestrations Before the Structure Era
In 1977, Hille hypothesized the existence of fenestrations by showing that the hydrophobic form of local anesthetics (LA) could reach their binding site even when the internal mouth of the sodium channel was closed (
Fenestrations as Drug Access Pathway
Despite the long-standing evidence for the existence of hydrophobic fenestrations in Nav, they were not visualized until the publication of the crystal structure from the prokaryote Arcobacter butzleri (NavAb) in 2011 (Payandeh et al., 2011). As expected from years of functional studies, the NavAb structure showed that the fenestrations are the lipid exposed part of the pore domain connecting the central cavity of the channel to the hydrophobic lipidic portion of the membrane (Figure 2A). The size of the fenestrations in the first reported pre-open state of NavAb was ∼8 × 10 Å (Payandeh et al., 2011). Lipids were found to penetrate deeply into the central cavity through the fenestrations and block the ion conduction pathway. Other bacterial sodium channel structures of the magnetococcus bacterium (NavMs) and marine alphaproteobacterium HIMB114 (NavRh), showed similar fenestrations, which suggested that these pathways were a conserved architectural feature of sodium channels (
The Role of Fenestrations in Pharmacology
It has been suggested that the DII-DIII or DIII-DIV fenestrations are key pathways for drug access to the central cavity, though direct evidence for this is currently lacking in eukaryotic NaV. In NavAb, a conserved hydrophobic residue (F203) was shown to play a major role in drug binding by controlling access to the central cavity for drugs like flecainide (
FIGURE 3

Effect of F203A/W mutations on the size and functionality of NavAb. (A) F203A mutation enlarges the fenestrations significantly and causes a significant leftward shift in the steady-state inactivation profile. (B) F203W mutation narrows the fenestrations significantly and causes a significant rightward shift in the steady-state inactivation profile. (C) Effect of F203A and F203W on the potency of flecainide (left) and benzocaine (right) (
TABLE 1
| DI S6: M394, I397, F398, S401, L404, N406, L407 |
| DII S6: M923, V924, N927, N930, N933 |
| DIII S6: I1454, L1462, N1463, I1466, I1469, N1472 |
| DIV S6: I1756, I1757, F1760, V1763, M1766 |
| P1-helix-SF-DI: F366, M369, T370 |
| P1-helix-SF-DII: F892, L895, C896 |
| P1-helix-SF-DIII: L1413, A1416, T1417, F1418 |
| P1-helix-SF-DIV: F1705, T1708, T1709 |
Amino acids that form the fenestrations in hNav1.5.
Fenestrations as Lipids Binding Sites
The structures of NavAb, NavMs, and NavRh and cryo-EM structures of multiple eukaryotic Nav have revealed lipid molecules in their fenestrations. This conserved interaction between lipids and Nav fenestrations over millions of years of evolution suggests that lipids are key to fenestrations, though that role is unclear. Molecular dynamics studies have suggested that fatty acids chains can reach the central cavity of Nav through the fenestrations, perhaps suggesting a direct effect on drug ingress/egress (
Genetics/Fenestropathy
Advances in gene sequencing have enabled the identification of many missense mutations which are linked to diseases, including NaV channelopathies. More than 1,000 missense mutations have been linked to the nine isoforms of Nav and almost half of these mutations target the human cardiac sodium channel Nav1.5 to cause arrhythmia syndrome and related disorders (
TABLE 2
| Mutation | Isoform | Location | Pathology |
|---|---|---|---|
| M369K | hNav1.5 | DI-P1 helix | Brugada |
| T370M | hNav1.5 | DI-P1 helix | LQT3 |
| I397T | hNav1.5 | DI S6 | LQT3 |
| L404Q | hNav1.5 | DI S6 | LQT3 |
| F892I | hNav1.5 | DII-P1 helix | Brugada |
| C896S | hNav1.5 | DII-P1 helix | Brugada |
| V924I | hNav1.5 | DII S6 | Brugada |
| N927S | hNav1.5 | DII S6 | Brugada |
| S1458Y | hNav1.5 | DIII S6 | LQT3 |
| N1472S | hNav1.5 | DIII S6 | LQT3 |
| F1705S | hNav1.5 | DIV S5-S6 | SIDS |
| T1709M/R | hNav1.5 | DIV S5-S6 | ICEGTC |
| V1763M | hNav1.5 | DIV S6 | LQT3 |
| M1766L | hNav1.5 | DIV S6 | LQT3 |
| Y1767C | hNav1.5 | DIV S6 | LQT3 |
Missense mutations that target the fenestrations of hNav1.5
FIGURE 4

Some arrhythmia mutations in hNav1.5 mapped to the channel’s fenestrations. (A) Overall structure of hNav1.5 shows the fenestropathy mutations. LQT3 mutations are shown in red, Brugada syndrome mutations in blue, and mutations which cause mixed phenotype are shown in yellow. (B) D1/D2 fenestration shows four residues that cause LQT3 and Brugada syndrome. (C) V1763M leads to late sodium current (D) M1766L causes a significant shift in the steady-state inactivation profile. (E) D4/D1 fenestration shows F1705S, V1763M, and M1766L (
Nav1.4 sodium channel is the main isoform expressed in skeletal muscles, where its main responsibility is to couple the action potential to the activation of voltage-gated calcium channels and the subsequent rush of Ca+2 to trigger muscle contraction. So far, seven main disorders result from the channelopathy of Nav1.4; Myotonia, para-myotonia congenita, hypokalemic periodic paralysis, hyperkalemic periodic paralysis, normokalemic periodic paralysis, congenital myasthenia, and congenital myopathy with hypotonia (
The diseases caused by the missense mutations in the fenestrations of voltage-gated sodium channels highlight the importance this newly apparent functional region of NaV. We are uncertain of the route by which these mutations result in diseases, though speculate that it could be related to a change in the way that these residues interact with the activation/inactivation gates, or it could stem from the fact that changing the hydrophobicity of the fenestrations residues will lead to a change in the way lipid molecules interact with the fenestrations and thus the whole channel. Further experiments will need to be performed to determine the effects of these disease-associated mutants.
Fenestrations in Other Ion Channels
Fenestrations have been identified in many other ion channels, including potassium channels, calcium channels, and others (Zhou et al., 2001; Miller and Long, 2012;
Ion channel fenestrations have also been shown to act as drug binding sites in other ion channels. Norfluoxetine has been shown to bind to the fenestration of K2P channels and displace alkyl chains in a state-dependent manner (
Several newer studies also highlight the potential importance of these regions in future drug discovery, including a possible role for providing subtype specificity in combination with protein- or tissue-specific lipids. The fenestrations of the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNQ4 (Kv7.4), for example, have been shown to bind the activating AED retigabine when phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate (PIP2) binds nearby (
Conclusion
Put together, these findings highlight the importance of the fenestration region of Nav and ion channels in general. Despite this, very little is known about their native function, their role in pathophysiology, as well as their role in drug binding in vivo. We think the term “Fenestropathy” helps group a variety of genetic and acquired disorders to this often-overlooked region of ion channels and propel research in this area.
Statements
Author contributions
TMG discovered the link between the mentioned mutations and the fenestrations. TMG and MJL wrote the manuscript and prepared the figures.
Funding
TMG and MJL are supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01HL112808 to W.A.C and N.Z., and R35NS111573 to W.A.C.).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors, and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Summary
Keywords
fenestrations, voltage-gated sodium channels, arrhythmia, Nav1.5, channelopathy, fenestropathy, LQT3 syndrome, Brugada syndrome
Citation
Gamal El-Din TM and Lenaeus MJ (2022) Fenestropathy of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels. Front. Pharmacol. 13:842645. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.842645
Received
23 December 2021
Accepted
25 January 2022
Published
11 February 2022
Volume
13 - 2022
Edited by
James Richard Groome, Idaho State University, United States
Reviewed by
Anna Weinzinger, University of Vienna, Austria
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© 2022 Gamal El-Din and Lenaeus.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Tamer M. Gamal El-Din, tmgamal@uw.edu; Michael J. Lenaeus, mlenaeus@uw.edu
This article was submitted to Pharmacology of Ion Channels and Channelopathies, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.