Potassium channels articles from across Nature Portfolio

K_ATP channels regulate insulin secretion and are activated by PIP₂. Here, the authors show PIP₂ binds between SUR1 and Kir6.2 to open the channel, and a neonatal diabetes mutation stabilizes K_ATP channels in a PIP₂-bound open conformation.

Progesterone is used in recovery of cerebral ischemia however the mechanism of action is unknown. Authors report here that micromolar progesterone activates mouse cerebrovascular myocyte BK channels, involving two steroid binding sites.

The potassium channel KCNQ2 can be activated by analgesics and antiepileptic drugs via an unclear mechanism. Here authors report structures of KCNQ2-CaM in complex with cannabidiol, PIP2, and HN37 and elucidate the mechanisms of activation.

A potassium activity reporter detects organelle-specific channel function.

Here, the binding site of the drug cloxyquin to the TWIK-related spinal cord K+ channel (TRESK) channel is determined and it is reported that Cloxyquin activates the ion channel by allosteric stabilization of the inner selectivity filter facilitating the ion conduction process.

Upregulated bursting activity in the lateral habenula is associated with depression-like behaviours in rats and mice, and depends on NMDA receptors, T-type voltage-sensitive calcium channels and the astrocytic inwardly rectifying potassium channel KIR4.1.

The endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol increases the tonic and evoked firing rate of mouse dopamine midbrain neurons by inhibiting A-type potassium currents through a direct lipid interaction with Kv4.3 channels.