Journal of Toxicology

Review Article

Metal Toxicity at the Synapse: Presynaptic, Postsynaptic, and Long-Term Effects

Table 1

Effects of metals on voltage-activated ion channels ( ↑ —activation/upregulation, ↓ —inhibition/downregulation).
Voltage-gated channels
TargetCalcium channelsSodium channelsPotassium channels
LNTRAll(ii)Tetrodotoxin sensitiveTetrodotoxin resistantAll(i)
AlEffect↓↓↓
Conc20 μM20 μM50 μM
Ref[1][1][2]
CdEffect↓↓↓↓
Conc20 μM2.2, 125 μM5 mM0.2 mM
Ref[3][4], [5][6][6]
CoEffect↓
Conc500 μM
Ref[7]
HgEffect↓↓↓↓
Conc2.2 μM0.5–2 μM0.7 μM1.1 μM
Ref[8][9][8][10]
LaEffect ↑
Conc10 μM
Ref[11]
MnEffect↓ ↑
Conc10 mM1 mM
Ref[12][12]
PbEffect↓↓↓↓
Conc30 nM(i), 0.7, 0.64, 0.1 μM80 nM(i), 0.64, 0.1 μM1.3 μM, 6 μM, 6 μM1, 1, 0.6, (1–30) μM
Ref[13], [14], [15], [1][13, 15] [1], [5], [1][14], [15], [4][16], [15], [4], [17]
PtEffect↓↓↓
Conc23.9 μM10 μM10 μM, 100 μM
Ref[18][18][18], [18]
SnEffect↓↑
Conc50 μM50 μM
Ref[19][20]
ZnEffect↓↓↓↓↓↓ ↑
Conc5,69 μM5,69 μM20 μM2 mM, 69 μM2 mM50 μM30 μM
Ref[1, 21][1, 21][21][10, 16] [6] [6][22]
(i)Extent of block and EC50 differ based on concentration of charge carrier used.
(ii)Paper does not describe which sub-type is affected.