Abstract: There are only one or two voltage-gated sodium channel α subunit genes in insects, but the two post-transcriptional modifications, alternative splicing and RNA editing, confer the functional diversity of insect sodium channels. The insect β accessory subunits, TipE and TEH1-4, also play important roles in the expression and regulation of sodium ion channels. Voltagegated sodium channel plays an important role in the generation and transmission of action potential and is the target site of many natural and synthetic neurotoxins and insecticides, including the pyrethroids, indoxacarb and metaflumizone. Pyrethroids can prolong the transmembrane sodium ion flow by controlling the inactivation and deactivation of sodium channels in insects, causing neuroexcitatory conduction disorders. Indoxacarb and metaflumizone block the neuronal action potential in the central and peripheral nervous system of insects. These neural agents can disturb the normal function of sodium channels in insects. Two pyrethroid binding sites have been commonly identified in sodium channels of insects, but sodium channels of different species have differences in binding sites for pyrethroids. Therefore, in this article we reviewed insect sodium channels and their interaction with insecticides, hoping to promote the research of insect nerve receptors and to provide important references for identification of mutations associated with resistance and development of effective insecticides.

Key words: Insect sodium channels, neural agents, alternative splicing, RNA editing, insecticide binding site