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Single-Molecule Imaging of Nav1.6 on the Surface of Hippocampal Neurons Reveals Somatic Nanoclusters

Voltage-gated sodium (Na$_\mathrm{v}$) channels are responsible for the depolarizing phase of the action potential in most nerve cells, and Na$_\mathrm{v}$ channel localization to the axon initial segment is vital to action potential initiation. Na$_\mathrm{v}$ channels in the soma play a role in the transfer of axonal output information to the rest of the neuron and in synaptic plasticity, although little is known about Na$_\mathrm{v}$ channel localization and dynamics within this neuronal compartment. This study uses single-particle tracking and photoactivation localization microscopy to analyze cell-surface Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 within the soma of cultured hippocampal neurons. Mean-square displacement analysis of individual trajectories indicated that half of the somatic Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 channels localized to stable nanoclusters $\sim$230 nm in diameter. Strikingly, these domains were stabilized at specific sites on the cell membrane for >30 min, notably via an ankyrin-independent mechanism, indicating that the means by which Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 nanoclusters are maintained in the soma is biologically different from axonal localization. Nonclustered Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 channels showed anomalous diffusion, as determined by mean-square-displacement analysis. High-density single-particle tracking of Na$_\mathrm{v}$ channels labeled with photoactivatable fluorophores in combination with Bayesian inference analysis was employed to characterize the surface nanoclusters. A subpopulation of mobile Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 was observed to be transiently trapped in the nanoclusters. Somatic Na$_\mathrm{v}$1.6 nanoclusters represent a new, to our knowledge, type of Na$_\mathrm{v}$ channel localization, and are hypothesized to be sites of localized channel regulation.