Voltage-gated chloride transport

Recently, Cl" channels have been discovered. These channels have no sequence relationship to the voltage-gated Na, and Ca channels. One such channel is involved in the disease, cystic fibrosis. In this disease, regulation of the channel is defective. The altered function of the channel in epithelia causes elevated levels of sodium and chloride ions in sweat and, through unknown processes, the accumulation of mucus in the respiratory tract and failure of exocrine secretion in glands, such as the pancreas. Blockage of airways leads to chronic lung infections that, with other effects of the Cl" transport deficiency, can be fatal. 

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