Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: SK1 , SK3

Title: Deletion of TASK1 and TASK3 channels disrupts intrinsic excitability but does not abolish glucose or pH responses of orexin/hypocretin neurons.

Authors: J A González, Lise T Jensen, Susan E Doyle, Manuel Miranda-Anaya, Michael Menaker, Lars Fugger, Douglas A Bayliss, Denis Burdakov

Journal, date & volume: Eur. J. Neurosci., 2009 Jul , 30, 57-64

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19508695

Abstract
The firing of hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin neurons is vital for normal sleep-wake transitions, but its molecular determinants are not well understood. It was recently proposed that TASK (TWIK-related acid-sensitive potassium) channels [TASK1 (K(2P)3.1) and/or TASK3 (K(2P)9.1)] regulate neuronal firing and may contribute to the specialized responses of orexin neurons to glucose and pH. Here we tested these theories by performing patch-clamp recordings from orexin neurons directly identified by targeted green fluorescent protein labelling in brain slices from TASK1/3 double-knockout mice. The deletion of TASK1/3 channels significantly reduced the ability of orexin cells to generate high-frequency firing. Consistent with reduced excitability, individual action potentials from knockout cells had lower rates of rise, higher thresholds and more depolarized after-hyperpolarizations. However, orexin neurons from TASK1/3 knockout mice retained typical responses to glucose and pH, and the knockout animals showed normal food-anticipatory locomotor activity. Our results support a novel role for TASK genes in enhancing neuronal excitability and promoting high-frequency firing, but suggest that TASK1/3 subunits are not essential for orexin cell responses to glucose and pH.