Sodium Channel Voltage Gated Type III Alpha (SCN3a)

SCN3a is found in a cluster of five alpha subunit genes on chromosome 2. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. Northern blot analysis detected a transcript of about 9.5 kb with strong expression in brain, weak expression in heart, and no expression in placenta, lung, liver, kidney, or pancreas. A strong band of about 7.5 kb was also found in skeletal muscle. Within specific brain regions, highest SCN3A expression was detected in cerebellum and frontal lobe, with moderate expression in amygdala, caudate nucleus, hippocampus, substantia nigra, medulla, and occipital pole, weak expression in subthalamic nucleus, thalamus, cerebral cortex, temporal lobe, and putamen, and no expression in corpus callosum and spinal cord.