The delayed potassium rectifier current, IKs , is composed of KCNQ1 and KCNE1 subunits and plays an important role in cardiac action potential repolarization. During β-adrenergic stimulation, 3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylates KCNQ1, producing an increase in IKs current and a shortening of the action potential. Here, using cell-attached m...

To determine whether the neonatal mouse can serve as a useful model for studying the molecular pharmacological basis of Long QT Syndrome Type 1 (LQT1), which has been linked to mutations in the human KCNQ1 gene, we measured QT intervals from electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings of wild-type (WT) and Kcnq1 knockout (KO) neonates before and after injection with the beta-adrenergic receptor agonist,...

BACKGROUND Although the basic scorpion K(+) channel toxins (KTxs) are well-known pharmacological tools and potential drug candidates, characterization the acidic KTxs still has the great significance for their potential selectivity towards different K(+) channel subtypes. Unfortunately, research on the acidic KTxs has been ignored for several years and progressed slowly. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS He...

Sensory transduction in the cochlea and the vestibular labyrinth depends on the cycling of K+. In the cochlea, endolymphatic K+ flows into the sensory hair cells via the apical transduction channel and is released from the hair cells into perilymph via basolateral K+ channels including KCNQ4. K+ may be taken up by fibrocytes in the spiral ligament and transported from cell to cell via gap junct...

The ability of KCNQ (Kv7) channels to form hetero-oligomers is of high physiological importance, because heteromers of KCNQ3 with KCNQ2 or KCNQ5 underlie the neuronal M-current, which modulates neuronal excitability. In KCNQ channels, we recently identified a C-terminal subunit interaction (si) domain that determines their subunit-specific assembly. Within this si domain, there are two motifs t...

BACKGROUND A 10% cumulative incidence and a 0.3% per year incidence rate of sudden cardiac death in patients younger than 40 years and without therapy have been reported in type 1 long-QT syndrome. The Y111C-KCNQ1 mutation causes a severe phenotype in vitro, suggesting a high-risk mutation. This study investigated the phenotype among Y111C-KCNQ1 mutation carriers in the Swedish population with ...

The KCNQ family of potassium channels underlie a repolarizing K(+) current in the heart and the M-current in neurones. The assembly of KCNQ1 with KCNE1 generates the delayed rectifier current I(Ks) in the heart. Characteristically these channels are regulated via G(q/11)-coupled receptors and the inhibition seen after phospholipase C activation is now thought to occur from membrane phosphatidyl...

Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) is an autosomal recessive cardioauditory ion channel disorder characterized by congenital bilateral sensorineural deafness and long QT interval. JLNS is a ventricular repolarization abnormality and is caused by mutations in the KCNQ1 or KCNE1 gene. It has a high mortality rate in childhood due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias, episodes of torsade de poin...

BACKGROUND In the congenital long-QT syndrome (LQTS), there can be a marked phenotypic heterogeneity. Founder effects, by which many individuals share a mutation identical by descent, represent a powerful tool to further understand the underlying mechanisms and to predict the natural history of mutation-associated effects. We are investigating one such founder effect, originating in South Afric...

KCNE1 is a single-span transmembrane auxiliary protein that modulates the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNQ1. The KCNQ1/KCNE1 complex in cardiomyocytes exhibited slow activated potassium (I(ks)) currents. Recently, a novel 47-residue polypeptide toxin SSD609 was purified from Scolopendra subspinipes dehaani venom and showed I(ks) current inhibition. Here, chemically synthesized SSD609 was sh...