Potassium Channel News and Research

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Rescue Treatment Found From Plant Extracts for People With Ataxia

A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers have discovered that extracts from plants used by the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations peoples in their traditional botanical medicine practices are able to rescue the function of ion channel proteins carrying mutations that cause human Episodic Ataxia.

22 Jun 2023

TTUHSC Professor Awarded NIH Grant for Potassium Channel Study

Each living cell has small, highly specialized conduits called potassium (K+) channels, which are responsible for the highly selective and fast transfer of K+ ions across cell membranes.

19 May 2023

Nonconducting W434F mutant varies in structure and conformation

Potassium (K+) channels are tiny, highly specialized conduits found in every live cell that transfer K+ ions in an exceedingly selective and quick manner across cell membranes.

13 Oct 2022

Mysterious protein clusters found on neurons are calcium-signaling “hotspots”, study reveals

For 30 years, mysterious clusters of proteins found on the cell body of neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain, both intrigued and baffled James Trimmer.

From The University of California, Davis 15 Nov 2021

Catechin-type flavonoid compounds in tea relax blood vessels by activating ion channel proteins

A new study from the University of California, Irvine shows that compounds in both green and black tea relax blood vessels by activating ion channel proteins in the blood vessel wall.

9 Mar 2021

Light impulses can be used to trigger electrical excitation in plants

Optogenetics denotes the manipulation of cellular processes by light-based biological techniques. An international research team led by the Würzburg plant scientists Rainer Hedrich, Georg Nagel and Dirk Becker has succeeded in applying this method to higher plants: Light impulses can now be used to trigger electrical excitation in plants.

11 Aug 2020

Compound in pickled capers can activate proteins required for bodily processes

A compound commonly found in pickled capers has been shown to activate proteins required for normal human brain and heart activity, and may even lead to future therapies for the treatment of epilepsy and abnormal heart rhythms.

14 Jul 2020

Regulating ion flow using a ball-and-chain mechanism

Ion channels that permit potassium and sodium ions to move in and out of cells are essential for the function of the brain and heart, and also for neuronal “firing” in the central nervous system.

19 Mar 2020