Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kv1.1 , Kv10.1

Title: Policing the ball: a new potassium channel subunit determines inactivation rate.

Authors: Leonard K Kaczmarek

Journal, date & volume: Neuron, 2006 Mar 2 , 49, 642-4

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16504937

Abstract
Inactivation of potassium currents during maintained firing results in a progressive increase in action potential width and neuronal excitability. In Kv1.1 channels, inactivation has attributed to a beta subunit that blocks the pore of the channel shortly after channel opening. In this issue of Neuron, Shulte and colleagues have identified a novel channel subunit whose interaction with Kv1.1 and the beta subunit prevents such inactivation. Mutations in this subunit lead to temporal lobe epilepsy.