Deletion of the DRASIC gene slows the desensitization kinetics of pH-evoked current in DRG neurons. (A) Superimposed currents evoked by a solution change from pH 7.4 to pH 5 in a wild-type and DRASIC-null DRG neurons, and a COS-7 cell coexpressing ASICα and BNC1a. Vertical scale bar: 4 nA wild-type DRG, 2.2 nA DRASIC-null DRG, 1.39 nA COS-7 cell. (B) Mean time constants of desensitization of the acid-evoked currents from wild-type and knockout DRG neurons (n = at least 13 cells), and DEG/ENaC subunits expressed individually (n = at least five cells), and coexpressed in COS-7 cells (n = at least six cells) demonstrates that only DRASIC coexpressed with other subunits reproduced the fast desensitization kinetics of the DRG neurons. Currents were evoked by pH 6, except BNC1a currents, which were evoked by pH 4.