The last 10 years have seen rapid advances in the understanding of potassium channel function. Since the first inward rectifying (Kir) channels were cloned in 1994, the structural basis of channel function has been significantly elucidated, and determination of the crystal structure of a bacterial K channel (KcsA) in 1998 provided an atomic resolution of the permeation pathway. This review cons...

BACKGROUND Neurosteroids have various physiological and neuropsychopharmacological effects. In addition to the genomic effects of steroids, some neurosteroids modulate several neurotransmitter receptors and channels, such as N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptors, and sigma(1) receptors, and voltage-gated Ca(2+) and K(+) channels. However, the molecul...

The periodic paralysis (PP) are rare autosomal-dominant disorders associated to mutations in the skeletal muscle sodium, calcium, and potassium channel genes characterized by muscle fiber depolarization with un-excitability, episodes of weakness with variations in serum potassium concentrations. Recent advances in thyrotoxic PP and hypokalemic PP (hypoPP) confirm the involvement of the muscle p...

Glia in the central nervous system (CNS) express diverse inward rectifying potassium channels (Kir). The major function of Kir is in establishing the high potassium (K+) selectivity of the glial cell membrane and strongly negative resting membrane potential (RMP), which are characteristic physiological properties of glia. The classical property of Kir is that K+ flows inwards when the RMP is ne...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Gen. Physiol. 2016 Vol. 148 No. 3 201–205 www.jgp.org/cgi/doi/10.1085/jgp.201611671 201 Inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels are important regulators of cellular excitability, enabling cells to alter electrical activity in response to diverse autonomic and metabolic signals (Hibino et al., 2010). Fairly or not, the Kir channel family is sometim...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Gen. Physiol. 2016 Vol. 148 No. 3 201–205 www.jgp.org/cgi/doi/10.1085/jgp.201611671 201 Inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels are important regulators of cellular excitability, enabling cells to alter electrical activity in response to diverse autonomic and metabolic signals (Hibino et al., 2010). Fairly or not, the Kir channel family is sometim...

Members of the Kir2 subfamily of inwardly rectifying K+ channels characterized by their strong current rectification are widely expressed both in the periphery and in the CNS in mammals. We have cloned from rat brain a fourth subfamily member, designated Kir2.4 (IRK4), which shares 53-63% similarity to Kir2.1, Kir2.2, or Kir2.3 on the amino acid level. In situ hybridization analysis identifies ...

Insecticide resistance is a growing threat to mosquito control programs around the world, thus creating the need to discover novel target sites and target-specific compounds for insecticide development. Emerging evidence suggests that mosquito inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels represent viable molecular targets for developing insecticides with new mechanisms of action. Here we describe ...