Muscle calcium-dependent potassium channel

Bolotina, V. M., Najibi, S., Palacino, J. J., Pagano, P. J., and Cohen, R. A. (1994). Nitric oxide directly activates calcium-dependent potassium channels in vascular smooth muscle. Nature London) 368, 850-883. 

Nelson MT, Patlak JB, Worley JF, Standen NB 1990 Calcium channels, potassium channels, and voltage dependence of arterial smooth muscle tone. Am J Physiol 259 C3-C18 Nixon GF, Mignery GA, Somlyo AV 1994 Immunogold localization of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors and characterization of ultrastructural features of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in phasic and tonic smooth muscle. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 15 682-700 Peng H, Matchkov V, Ivarsen A, Aalkjaer C, Nilsson H 2001 Hypothesis for the initiation of vasomotion. CircRes 88 810-815... 

Nelson, M.T., Patlak, J.B., Worley, J.F., and Standen, N.B (1990) Calcium channels, potassium channels, and voltage dependence of arterial smooth muscle tone. American Journal of Physiology, 259 C3-18. 

Mercuric chloride is thought to gain access to the intracellular compartment through Na + and Ca2 + channels in the membrane [ 100]. Sulphydryl reagents, including Hg2 +, could inhibit K +-stimulated uptake of Ca2+ into rat brain synaptosomes in vitro [101]. In muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum, Hg2+ causes inhibition of ATP-dependent Ca2 + uptake and loss of accumulated calcium [ 102,103]. However, HgCl2 has been found to inhibit ATP-dependent calcium uptake more strongly than it inhibits potassium-stimulated uptake [ 104],... 

In those secretory tissues where extracellular calcium is necessary for secretion, calcium enters by way of plasma membrane channels. Therefore, the nature of membrane channels is obviously very important. Are the channels uniform on a given cell Do their characteristics vary from tissue to tissue Many questions remain unanswered, but several studies suggest that a cell may have more than one type of calcium channel. Although not a secretory tissue, smooth muscle has two types of calcium channel potential sensitive channels and receptor operated channels (30). So, in this tissue [and probably in secretory tissues as well (31)], the nature of the stimulus may determine which channels are opened, the extent of calcium entry and the extent of the response. A high potassium solution, which is commonly used to activate calcium mediated responses, would open potential dependent channels whereas drugs acting on their respective receptors would open a different set of channels, but cause the same overall response. 

The main experimental use of barium is in electrophysiology where it can be used as a charged probe for metal ion-dependent processes. The isolation and identification of individual ion fluxes which contribute to the electric currents flowing through cell membranes often requires techniques to block specific components of electrical activity. This can sometimes be achieved by the use of the soluble salts of divalent cations such as barium and manganese which may block potassium and calcium and currents in, for example, the cardiac pacemaker [4]. Barium can also be used to identify potassium-conducting channels in isolated membrane vesicles [S,6] or calcium charmels in isolated heart muscle cells, myocytes [7], and adrenal gland chromaffin cells [8]. 

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