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Article

  • The EMBO Journal (2009) 28, 1308 - 1318
  • doi:10.1038/emboj.2009.57

Published online: 12 March 2009

The mechano-activated K+ channels TRAAK and TREK-1 control both warm and cold perception

Jacques Noël1,5, Katharina Zimmermann2,5, Jérome Busserolles3,4,5, Emanuel Deval1, Abdelkrim Alloui3,4, Sylvie Diochot1, Nicolas Guy1, Marc Borsotto1, Peter Reeh2, Alain Eschalier3,4 and Michel Lazdunski1

  1. Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS UMR6097, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Institut Paul Hamel, Sophia Antipolis, Valbonne, France
  2. Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
  3. Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Médicale, Faculté de Médecine/CHU, Clermont Université, Université d'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
  4. INSERM UMR766, Pharmacologie Fondamentale et Clinique, Faculté de Médecine, Clermont-Ferrand, France
  5. These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to:

Jacques Noël, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, UMR CNRS 6097, CNRS–Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 660 Route des Lucioles, Valbonne 06560, France. Tel.: +33 4 93 95 77 20; Fax: +33 4 93 95 77 08; E-mail: jnoel@unice.fr

Michel Lazdunski, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, UMR CNRS 6097, CNRS–Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 660 Route des Lucioles, Valbonne 06560, France. Tel.: +33 4 93 95 77 03; Fax: +33 4 93 95 77 04; lazdunski@ipmc.cnrs.fr

Received 25 November 2008; Accepted 11 February 2009

The sensation of cold or heat depends on the activation of specific nerve endings in the skin. This involves heat- and cold-sensitive excitatory transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. However, we show here that the mechano-gated and highly temperature-sensitive potassium channels of the TREK/TRAAK family, which normally work as silencers of the excitatory channels, are also implicated. They are important for the definition of temperature thresholds and temperature ranges in which excitation of nociceptor takes place and for the intensity of excitation when it occurs. They are expressed with thermo-TRP channels in sensory neurons. TRAAK and TREK-1 channels control pain produced by mechanical stimulation and both heat and cold pain perception in mice. Expression of TRAAK alone or in association with TREK-1 controls heat responses of both capsaicin-sensitive and capsaicin-insensitive sensory neurons. Together TREK-1 and TRAAK channels are important regulators of nociceptor activation by cold, particularly in the nociceptor population that is not activated by menthol.

  • Keywords:

    • background potassium channels,
    • cold sensitization,
    • heat sensitization,
    • pain,
    • thermo transduction,
    • TRAAK,
    • TREK-1