Distinct potassium channels on pain-sensing neurons
Male
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
0301 basic medicine
03 medical and health sciences
Potassium Channels
Ganglia, Spinal
Animals
Fluorescent Antibody Technique
Pain
Neurons, Afferent
Rats
Subcellular Fractions
DOI:
10.1073/pnas.231376298
Publication Date:
2002-07-26T14:32:33Z
AUTHORS (6)
ABSTRACT
Differential expression of ion channels contributes functional diversity to sensory neuron signaling. We find nerve injury induced by the Chung model of neuropathic pain leads to striking reductions in voltage-gated K
+
(Kv) channel subunit expression in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons, suggesting a potential molecular mechanism for hyperexcitability of injured nerves. Moreover, specific classes of DRG neurons express distinct Kv channel subunit combinations. Importantly, Kv1.4 is the sole Kv1 α subunit expressed in smaller diameter neurons, suggesting that homomeric Kv1.4 channels predominate in Aδ and C fibers arising from these cells. These neurons are presumably nociceptors, because they also express the VR-1 capsaicin receptor, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and/or Na
+
channel SNS/PN3/Nav1.8. In contrast, larger diameter neurons associated with mechanoreception and proprioception express high levels of Kv1.1 and Kv1.2 without Kv1.4 or other Kv1 α subunits, suggesting that heteromers of these subunits predominate on large, myelinated afferent axons that extend from these cells.
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