scholarly journals Mechanism of Maxi-K Channel Activation by Dehydrosoyasaponin-I

1998 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Giangiacomo ◽  
Augustus Kamassah ◽  
Guy Harris ◽  
Owen B. McManus

Dehydrosoyasaponin-I (DHS-I) is a potent activator of high-conductance, calcium-activated potassium (maxi-K) channels. Interaction of DHS-I with maxi-K channels from bovine aortic smooth muscle was studied after incorporating single channels into planar lipid bilayers. Nanomolar amounts of intracellular DHS-I caused the appearance of discrete episodes of high channel open probability interrupted by periods of apparently normal activity. Statistical analysis of these periods revealed two clearly separable gating modes that likely reflect binding and unbinding of DHS-I. Kinetic analysis of durations of DHS-I-modified modes suggested DHS-I activates maxi-K channels through a high-order reaction. Average durations of DHS-I-modified modes increased with DHS-I concentration, and distributions of these mode durations contained two or more exponential components. In addition, dose-dependent increases in channel open probability from low initial values were high order with average Hill slopes of 2.4–2.9 under different conditions, suggesting at least three to four DHS-I molecules bind to maximally activate the channel. Changes in membrane potential over a 60-mV range appeared to have little effect on DHS-I binding. DHS-I modified calcium- and voltage-dependent channel gating. 100 nM DHS-I caused a threefold decrease in concentration of calcium required to half maximally open channels. DHS-I shifted the midpoint voltage for channel opening to more hyperpolarized potentials with a maximum shift of −105 mV. 100 nM DHS-I had a larger effect on voltage-dependent compared with calcium-dependent channel gating, suggesting DHS-I may differentiate these gating mechanisms. A model specifying four identical, noninteracting binding sites, where DHS-I binds to open conformations with 10–20-fold higher affinity than to closed conformations, explained changes in voltage-dependent gating and DHS-I-induced modes. This model of channel activation by DHS-I may provide a framework for understanding protein structures underlying maxi-K channel gating, and may provide a basis for understanding ligand activation of other ion channels.

1992 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Ganfornina ◽  
J López-Barneo

Single K+ channel currents were recorded in excised membrane patches from dispersed chemoreceptor cells of the rabbit carotid body under conditions that abolish current flow through Na+ and Ca2+ channels. We have found three classes of voltage-gated K+ channels that differ in their single-channel conductance (gamma), dependence on internal Ca2+ (Ca2+i), and sensitivity to changes in O2 tension (PO2). Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels (KCa channels) with gamma approximately 210 pS in symmetrical K+ solutions were observed when [Ca2+]i was greater than 0.1 microM. Small conductance channels with gamma = 16 pS were not affected by [Ca2+]i and they exhibited slow activation and inactivation time courses. In these two channel types open probability (P(open)) was unaffected when exposed to normoxic (PO2 = 140 mmHg) or hypoxic (PO2 approximately 5-10 mmHg) external solutions. A third channel type (referred to as KO2 channel), having an intermediate gamma(approximately 40 pS), was the most frequently recorded. KO2 channels are steeply voltage dependent and not affected by [Ca2+]i, they inactivate almost completely in less than 500 ms, and their P(open) reversibly decreases upon exposure to low PO2. The effect of low PO2 is voltage dependent, being more pronounced at moderately depolarized voltages. At 0 mV, for example, P(open) diminishes to approximately 40% of the control value. The time course of ensemble current averages of KO2 channels is remarkably similar to that of the O2-sensitive K+ current. In addition, ensemble average and macroscopic K+ currents are affected similarly by low PO2. These observations strongly suggest that KO2 channels are the main contributors to the macroscopic K+ current of glomus cells. The reversible inhibition of KO2 channel activity by low PO2 does not desensitize and is not related to the presence of F-, ATP, and GTP-gamma-S at the internal face of the membrane. These results indicate that KO2 channels confer upon glomus cells their unique chemoreceptor properties and that the O2-K+ channel interaction occurs either directly or through an O2 sensor intrinsic to the plasma membrane closely associated with the channel molecule.


1988 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
C S Anderson ◽  
R MacKinnon ◽  
C Smith ◽  
C Miller

Charybdotoxin (CTX), a small, basic protein from scorpion venom, strongly inhibits the conduction of K ions through high-conductance, Ca2+-activated K+ channels. The interaction of CTX with Ca2+-activated K+ channels from rat skeletal muscle plasma membranes was studied by inserting single channels into uncharged planar phospholipid bilayers. CTX blocks K+ conduction by binding to the external side of the channel, with an apparent dissociation constant of approximately 10 nM at physiological ionic strength. The dwell-time distributions of both blocked and unblocked states are single-exponential. The toxin association rate varies linearly with the CTX concentration, and the dissociation rate is independent of it. CTX is competent to block both open and closed channels; the association rate is sevenfold faster for the open channel, while the dissociation rate is the same for both channel conformations. Membrane depolarization enhances the CTX dissociation rate e-fold/28 mV; if the channel's open probability is maintained constant as voltage varies, then the toxin association rate is voltage independent. Increasing the external solution ionic strength from 20 to 300 mM (with K+, Na+, or arginine+) reduces the association rate by two orders of magnitude, with little effect on the dissociation rate. We conclude that CTX binding to the Ca2+-activated K+ channel is a bimolecular process, and that the CTX interaction senses both voltage and the channel's conformational state. We further propose that a region of fixed negative charge exists near the channel's CTX-binding site.


1994 ◽  
Vol 267 (2) ◽  
pp. C598-C606 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Small ◽  
C. E. Morris

Some stretch-activated (SA) channels challenged with suction jumps exhibit adaptation, a dynamic behavior that can be overlooked because of its mechanical fragility. In previous studies of neuronal SA K channels, we detected no adaptation, but the protocols used were not designed to detect dynamics. Here, we reproduce the adaptation seen by others in Xenopus SA cationic (Cat) channels but show that, with the same protocol, no adaptation occurs with SA K channels. Instead, SA K channels exhibit a different dynamic behavior, delayed activation. Lymnaea SA K channels subjected to pressure jumps responded after a 1- to 4-s delay with a gradual, rather than abrupt, onset of activation. The delay was pressure dependent and was longer for patches from older cultured neurons. Delayed responses were fragile like SA Cat channel adaptation; they disappeared with repeated stimuli. Cytochalasin D decreased the delay and increased the stretch activation of SA K channels. Unlike SA Cat channel adaptation, which occurs only at hyperpolarized potentials, SA K channel delay was not voltage dependent. We note that once SA Cat and SA K channels are "stripped" of their fragile (cytoskeleton-dependent?) dynamics, however, their gating behaviors show little fundamental difference; both are stretch activatable and have a higher open probability at depolarized potentials.


1987 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Miller ◽  
R Latorre ◽  
I Reisin

Voltage-dependent Ca++-activated K+ channels from rat skeletal muscle were reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers, and the kinetics of block of single channels by Ba++ were studied. The Ba++ association rate varies linearly with the probability of the channel being open, while the dissociation rate follows a rectangular hyperbolic relationship with open-state probability. Ba ions can be occluded within the channel by closing the channel with a strongly hyperpolarizing voltage applied during a Ba++-blocked interval. Occluded Ba ions cannot dissociate from the blocking site until after the channel opens. The ability of the closed channel to occlude Ba++ is used as an assay to study the channel's gating equilibrium in the blocked state. The blocked channel opens and closes in a voltage-dependent process similar to that of the unblocked channel. The presence of a Ba ion destabilizes the closed state of the blocked channel, however, by 1.5 kcal/mol. The results confirm that Ba ions block this channel by binding in the K+-conduction pathway. They further show that the blocking site is inaccessible to Ba++ from both the cytoplasmic and external solutions when the channel is closed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (3) ◽  
pp. L327-L336 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Savaria ◽  
C. Lanoue ◽  
A. Cadieux ◽  
E. Rousseau

Microsomal fractions were prepared from canine and bovine airway smooth muscle (ASM) by differential and gradient centrifugations. Surface membrane vesicles were characterized by binding assays and incorporated into planar lipid bilayers. Single-channel activities were recorded in symmetric or asymmetric K+ buffer systems and studied under voltage and Ca2+ clamp conditions. A large-conductance K(+)-selective channel (greater than 220 pS in 150 mM K+) displaying a high Ca2+, low Ba2+, and charybdotoxin (CTX) sensitivity was identified. Time analysis of single-channel recordings revealed a complex kinetic behavior compatible with the previous schemes proposed for Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels in a variety of biological surface membranes. We now report that the open probability of the channel at low Ca2+ concentration is enhanced on in vitro phosphorylation, which is mediated via an adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-dependent protein kinase. In addition to this characterization at the molecular level, a second series of pharmacological experiments were designed to assess the putative role of this channel in ASM strips. Our results show that 50 nM CTX, a specific inhibitor of the large conducting Ca(2+)-dependent K+ channel, prevents norepinephrine transient relaxation on carbamylcholine-precontracted ASM strips. It was also shown that CTX reversed the steady-state relaxation induced by vasoactive intestinal peptide and partially antagonized further relaxation induced by cumulative doses of this potent bronchodilatator. Thus it is proposed that the Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels have a physiological role because they are indirectly activated on stimulation of various membrane receptors via intracellular mechanisms.


2000 ◽  
Vol 279 (4) ◽  
pp. C1107-C1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. S. Walters ◽  
M. Covarrubias ◽  
J. S. Ellingson

We investigated the effects of clinically relevant ethanol concentrations (5–20 mM) on the single-channel kinetics of bovine aortic smooth muscle maxi-K channels reconstituted in lipid bilayers (1:1 palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine: palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine). Ethanol at 10 and 20 mM decreased the channel open probability ( P o) by 75 ± 20.3% mainly by increasing the mean closed time (+82 to +960%, n = 7). In some instances, ethanol also decreased the mean open time (−40.8 ± 22.5%). The P o-voltage relation in the presence of 20 mM ethanol exhibited a rightward shift in the midpoint of voltage activation (Δ V ½ ≅ 17 mV), a slightly steeper relationship (change in slope factor, Δ k, ≅ −2.5 mV), and a decreased maximum P o (from ∼0.82 to ∼0.47). Interestingly, channels inhibited by ethanol at low Ca2+ concentrations (2.5 μM) were very resistant to ethanol in the presence of increased Ca2+ (≥ 20 μM). Alcohol consumption in clinically relevant amounts may alter the contribution of maxi-K channels to the regulation of arterial tone.


1992 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Cummings ◽  
S C Kinnamon

The apically restricted, voltage-dependent K+ conductance of Necturus taste receptor cells was studied using cell-attached, inside-out and outside-out configurations of the patch-clamp recording technique. Patches from the apical membrane typically contained many channels with unitary conductances ranging from 30 to 175 pS in symmetrical K+ solutions. Channel density was so high that unitary currents could be resolved only at negative voltages; at positive voltages patch recordings resembled whole-cell recordings. These multi-channel patches had a small but significant resting conductance that was strongly activated by depolarization. Patch current was highly K+ selective, with a PK/PNa ratio of 28. Patches containing single K+ channels were obtained by allowing the apical membrane to redistribute into the basolateral membrane with time. Two types of K+ channels were observed in isolation. Ca(2+)-dependent channels of large conductance (135-175 pS) were activated in cell-attached patches by strong depolarization, with a half-activation voltage of approximately -10 mV. An ATP-blocked K+ channel of 100 pS was activated in cell-attached patches by weak depolarization, with a half-activation voltage of approximately -47 mV. All apical K+ channels were blocked by the sour taste stimulus citric acid directly applied to outside-out and perfused cell-attached patches. The bitter stimulus quinine also blocked all channels when applied directly by altering channel gating to reduce the open probability. When quinine was applied extracellularly only to the membrane outside the patch pipette and also to inside-out patches, it produced a flickery block. Thus, sour and bitter taste stimuli appear to block the same apical K+ channels via different mechanisms to produce depolarizing receptor potentials.


2002 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsukasa Gotow ◽  
Takako Nishi

Light-dependent K+ channels underlying a hyperpolarizing response of one extraocular (simple) photoreceptor, Ip-2 cell, in the marine mollusc Onchidium ganglion were examined using cell-attached and inside-out patch-clamp techniques. A previous report (Gotow, T., T. Nishi, and H. Kijima. 1994. Brain Res. 662:268–272) showed that a depolarizing response of the other simple photoreceptor, A-P-1 cell, results from closing of the light-dependent K+ channels that are activated by cGMP. In the cell-attached patch recordings of Ip-2 cells, external artificial seawater (ASW) was replaced with a modified ASW containing 150 mM K+ and 200 mM Mg2+ to suppress any synaptic input and to maintain the membrane potential constant. When Ip-2 cells were equilibrated with this modified ASW, the internal K+ concentration was estimated to be 260 mM. Light-dependent single-channels in the cell-attached patch on these cells were opened by light but scarcely by voltage. After confirming the light-dependent channel activity in the cell-attached patches, an application of cGMP to the excised inside-out patches newly activated a channel that disappeared on removal of cGMP. Open and closed time distributions of this cGMP-activated channel could be described by the sum of two exponents with time constants τo1, τo2 and τc1, τc2, respectively, similar to those of the light-dependent channel. In both the channels, τo1 and τo2 in ms ranges were similar to each other, although τc2 over tens of millisecond ranges was different. τo1, τo2, and the mean open time τo were both independent of light intensity, cGMP concentration, and voltage. In both channels, the open probability increased as the membrane was depolarized, without changing any of τo2 or τo. In both, the reversal potentials using 200- and 450-mM K+-filled pipettes were close to the K+ equilibrium potentials, suggesting that both the channels are primarily K+ selective. Both the mean values of the channel conductance were estimated to be the same at 62 and 91 pS in 200- and 450-mM K+ pipettes at nearly 0 mV, respectively. Combining these findings with those in the above former report, it is concluded that cGMP is a second messenger which opens the light-dependent K+ channel of Ip-2 to cause hyperpolarization, and that the channel is the same as that of A-P-1 closed by light.


2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Zhang ◽  
Xuhui Zeng ◽  
Christopher J. Lingle

The mouse Slo3 gene (KCNMA3) encodes a K+ channel that is regulated by changes in cytosolic pH. Like Slo1 subunits responsible for the Ca2+ and voltage-activated BK-type channel, the Slo3 α subunit contains a pore module with homology to voltage-gated K+ channels and also an extensive cytosolic C terminus thought to be responsible for ligand dependence. For the Slo3 K+ channel, increases in cytosolic pH promote channel activation, but very little is known about many fundamental properties of Slo3 currents. Here we define the dependence of macroscopic conductance on voltage and pH and, in particular, examine Slo3 conductance activated at negative potentials. Using this information, the ability of a Horrigan-Aldrich–type of general allosteric model to account for Slo3 gating is examined. Finally, the pH and voltage dependence of Slo3 activation and deactivation kinetics is reported. The results indicate that Slo3 differs from Slo1 in several important ways. The limiting conductance activated at the most positive potentials exhibits a pH-dependent maximum, suggesting differences in the limiting open probability at different pH. Furthermore, over a 600 mV range of voltages (−300 to +300 mV), Slo3 conductance shifts only about two to three orders of magnitude, and the limiting conductance at negative potentials is relatively voltage independent compared to Slo1. Within the context of the Horrigan-Aldrich model, these results indicate that the intrinsic voltage dependence (zL) of the Slo3 closed–open equilibrium and the coupling (D) between voltage sensor movement are less than in Slo1. The kinetic behavior of Slo3 currents also differs markedly from Slo1. Both activation and deactivation are best described by two exponential components, both of which are only weakly voltage dependent. Qualitatively, the properties of the two kinetic components in the activation time course suggest that increases in pH increase the fraction of more rapidly opening channels.


1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (2) ◽  
pp. C541-C547 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Mayorga-Wark ◽  
J. Costantin ◽  
W. P. Dubinsky ◽  
S. G. Schultz

We have previously demonstrated that a synthetic peptide composed of the first 22 amino acids from the NH2-terminus of the Shaker B K+ channel protein deactivates a voltage-dependent K+ channel present in basolateral membrane of Necturus small intestinal epithelial cells reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers (Dubinsky et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 1770-1774, 1992). We now demonstrate that this peptide interacts with the inner surface of the Necturus channel only when it is in the open or conducting configuration and that this interaction is hindered by tetraethylammonium ion, a well-established blocker of this and other K+ channels. We conclude that this peptide is an open-pore blocker of the Necturus K+ channel as it appears to be in the case of the Shaker B K+ channel. We further demonstrate that trypsin, which abolishes the ability of this peptide to block both the Necturus and the Shaker K+ channels and inhibits spontaneous inactivation of the Shaker K+ channel, also impairs the voltage-gate of the Necturus K+ channel. These findings, and others to be reported in a companion paper, suggest structural homologies between the "inactivation peptide" of the Shaker B K+ channel and the voltage-gate of the Necturus K+ channel.


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