Calcium influx mediated by the inwardly rectifying K+ channel Kir4.1 (KCNJ10) at low external K+ concentration

Cell Calcium ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Härtel ◽  
Karthika Singaravelu ◽  
Melanie Kaiser ◽  
Clemens Neusch ◽  
Swen Hülsmann ◽  
...  
1998 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Choe ◽  
Henry Sackin ◽  
Lawrence G. Palmer

Permeation, gating, and their interrelationship in an inwardly rectifying potassium (K+) channel, ROMK2, were studied using heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes. Patch-clamp recordings of single channels were obtained in the cell-attached mode. The gating kinetics of ROMK2 were well described by a model having one open and two closed states. One closed state was short lived (∼1 ms) and the other was longer lived (∼40 ms) and less frequent (∼1%). The long closed state was abolished by EDTA, suggesting that it was due to block by divalent cations. These closures exhibit a biphasic voltage dependence, implying that the divalent blockers can permeate the channel. The short closures had a similar biphasic voltage dependence, suggesting that they could be due to block by monovalent, permeating cations. The rate of entering the short closed state varied with the K+ concentration and was proportional to current amplitude, suggesting that permeating K+ ions may be related to the short closures. To explain the results, we propose a variable intrapore energy well model in which a shallow well may change into a deep one, resulting in a normally permeant K+ ion becoming a blocker of its own channel.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 318-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Grigg ◽  
T. Kozasa ◽  
Y. Nakajima ◽  
S. Nakajima

1. In cultured rat locus coeruleus neurons, somatostatin or met-enkephalin induces an inwardly rectifying K+ conductance. This inward rectifier was analyzed at the single-channel level. 2. Using the inside-out patch-clamp, guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP) application to the cytoplasmic side in the presence of somatostatin or met-enkephalin in the pipette produced a large increase in channel activity, which disappeared on switching from GTP to guanosine 5'-diphosphate. 3. The unitary conductance was approximately 30 pS at -95 mV with an extracellular K+ concentration of 156 mM and an intracellular K+ concentration of 124 mM at 23 degrees C. The channel showed burst behavior, and the closed time histogram was fit by two exponentials, with the fast time constant being 0.4 ms. The burst time histogram was also fit by two exponentials, with time constants of 0.24 and 2.0 ms (at 10 nM somatostatin). When the somatostatin concentration was changed from 500 to 1 nM, the kinetic behavior of the channel did not change, except that the open probability of the patch was decreased. 4. The current-voltage relation of the unitary channel current showed inward rectification. The reversal potential coincided with the K+ equilibrium potential, and it shifted according to a change in the K+ equilibrium potential. 5. In the presence of external somatostatin, the application of guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) to the cytoplasmic side induced an irreversible activation of this channel. 6. These results indicate that this K+ channel is the microscopic counterpart of the somatostatin- or met-enkephalin-induced inwardly rectifying K+ current in whole cell recording, and that the channel is activated by a G protein without a diffusible second messenger. Thus this channel is identified as a neuronal G-protein-coupled inward rectifier K+ channel. 7. Analysis of the burst behavior, based on a close-close-open kinetic model, revealed that there are at least four states in the K+ channel, a short gap, a longer closing, a short opening, and a long opening, and that the neuronal inward rectifier is activated at faster rates than the atrial inward rectifier.


1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 1248-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Furukawa

1. Inactivation of a cloned Aplysia K+ channel, AKv1.1a, expressed in Xenopus oocytes was examined by a cell-attached macropatch recording. A fast macroscopic inactivation (the time constant for decay was in the range of 20-40 ms) in response to a depolarizing command pulse was insensitive to the concentration of external K+ (2-100 mM KCl). 2. By contrast, recovery from inactivation was extremely slow and dependent on external K+. When the concentration of external KCl was 2-3 mM, a patched membrane had to be held at hyperpolarized potential for > 40 s for a full recovery. The recovery was greatly accelerated if external K+ concentration was increased. A tail current following a command pulse long enough to inactivate most of the channels showed a marked rising phase. 3. A consequence of the slow recovery from inactivation was that AKv1.1a showed a marked accumulation of the inactivation following repetitive pulses, even at low frequency (< 0.1 Hz). When two depolarizing pulses were applied at a short interval, the current during a second pulse was smaller than the current at the end of the preceding pulse. This is a phenomenon called "cumulative inactivation." The onset and the extent of cumulative inactivation of AKv1.1a were voltage dependent but relatively insensitive to external K+ concentration. An amino terminal deletion mutant of AKv1.1a that lacks the fast N-type inactivation did not show cumulative inactivation. 4. These results suggest that the inactivation gating by the amino terminal region of AKv1.1a has a similarity to open-channel blockade, and that the cumulative inactivation can also be dependent on the amino terminal cytoplasmic domain of K+ channels.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Enes Akyuz ◽  
Zuleyha Doganyigit ◽  
Yam Nath Paudel ◽  
Betul Koklu ◽  
Emin Kaymak ◽  
...  

Epilepsy is characterized by an imbalance in neurotransmitter activity; an increased excitatory to an inhibitory activity. Acetylcholine (ACh), serotonin, and norepinephrine (NE) may modulate neural activity via several mechanisms, mainly through its receptors/transporter activity and alterations in the extracellular potassium (K+) concentration via K+ ion channels. Seizures may disrupt the regulation of inwardly rectifying K+ (Kir) channels and alter the receptor/transporter activity. However, there are limited data present on the immunoreactivity pattern of these neurotransmitter receptors/transporters and K+ channels in chronic models of epilepsy, which therefore was the aim of this study. Changes in the immunoreactivity of epileptogenesis-related neurotransmitter receptors/transporters (M2, 5-HT2B, and NE transporter) as well as Kir channels (Kir3.1 and Kir6.2) were determined in the cortex, hippocampus and medulla of adult Wistar rats by utilizing a Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-kindling chronic epilepsy model. Increased immunoreactivity of the NE transporter, M2, and 5-HT2B receptors was witnessed in the cortex and medulla. While the immunoreactivity of the 5-HT2B receptor was found increased in the cortex and medulla, it was decreased in the hippocampus, with no changes observed in the M2 receptor in this region. Kir3.1 and Kir6.2 staining showed increase immunoreactivity in the cerebral cortex, but channel contrasting findings in the hippocampus and medulla. Our results suggest that seizure kindling may result in significant changes in the neurotransmitter system which may contribute or propagate to future epileptogenesis, brain damage and potentially towards sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Further studies on the pathogenic role of these changes in neurotransmitter receptors/transporters and K+ channel immunoreactivity may identify newer possible targets to treat seizures or prevent epilepsy-related comorbidities.


1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1831-1837 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Vallon ◽  
H Osswald ◽  
R C Blantz ◽  
S Thomson

Transport through the Na+-2Cl(-)-K+ cotransporter in the luminal membrane of macula densa cells is considered critical for tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF). Although various studies could support the importance of luminal Na+ and Cl-, the role of luminal K+ in TGF has not been thoroughly addressed. The study presented here examines this issue in nephrons with superficial glomeruli of anesthetized male Munich-Wistar-Frömter rats. Ambient Na+ concentration in early distal tubular fluid was approximately 22 mM, suggesting collection sites relatively close to the macula densa segment. First, it was found that ambient early distal tubular K+ concentration is approximately 1.3 mM, i.e., close to the K+ affinity of the Na+-2Cl(-)-K+ cotransporter in the thick ascending limb. Second, it was observed that a change in late proximal tubular flow rate, i.e., a maneuver that is known to induce a TGF response, significantly alters early distal tubular K+ concentration. Third, previous experiments failed to show an inhibition in TGF response during retrograde perfusion of the macula densa with K+-free solutions. Because of a potential K+ influx into the lumen between the perfusion site and the macula densa, however, the K+ channel blocker U37883A was added to the K+-free perfusate. TGF response was assessed as the fall in nephron filtration rate in response to retrograde perfusion of the macula densa segment from early distal tubular site. It was observed that luminal U37883A (100 microM) significantly attenuated TGF. Because adding 5 mM KCl to the perfusate restored TGF in the presence of U37883A and because the inhibitory action of U37883A on tubular K+ secretion was confirmed, the effect of U37883A on TGF was most likely caused by inhibition of K+ influx into the perfused segment, which decreased luminal K+ concentration at the macula densa. The present findings support a potential role for luminal K+ in TGF, which is in accordance with a transmission of the TGF signal across the macula densa via Na+-2Cl(-)-K+ cotransporter.


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