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Voltage‐gated Potassium Channel as a Facilitator of Exocytosis
Author(s) -
Feinshreiber Lori,
SingerLahat Dafna,
Ashery Uri,
Lotan Ilana
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2008.03997.x
Subject(s) - exocytosis , depolarization , ion channel , potassium channel , chemistry , membrane potential , biophysics , facilitation , voltage gated potassium channel , voltage gated ion channel , stretch activated ion channel , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , membrane , biology , biochemistry , receptor
Voltage‐gated ion channels are well characterized for their function in excitability signals. Accumulating studies, however, have established an ion‐independent function for the major classes of ion channels in cellular signaling. During the last few years we established a novel role for Kv2.1, a voltage‐gated potassium (Kv) channel, classically known for its role of repolarizing the membrane potential, in facilitation of exocytosis. Kv2.1 induces facilitation of depolarization‐induced release through its direct interaction with syntaxin, a protein component of the exocytotic machinery, independently of the potassium ion flow through the channel's pore. Here, we review our recent studies, further characterize the phenomena (using chromaffin cells and carbon fiber amperometry), and suggest plausible mechanisms that can underlie this facilitation of release.