title: Elevation of intracellular Ca2+ modulates A-currents in rat cerebellar granule neurons.
abstract: In the brain, the transient-inactivating voltage-gated potassium channel currents (called I(K(A)) or A-currents) are activated at subthreshold membrane potentials to control the excitability of neurons. In the current study, the effect of intracellular calcium on the A-current and the action mechanism of intracellular calcium was investigated by using the whole-cell voltage-clamp technique. Elevation of intracellular calcium by addition of 2 mM CaCl2 in the pipette solution significantly modulated both the peak amplitude and the kinetics of the A-current in rat granule neurons. The peak amplitudes of the A-current were 1,060 +/- 87 pA and 1,972 +/- 16 pA under conditions of no Ca2+ and elevated intracellular Ca2+, respectively. The time to peak, the time course of fast inactivation, and the steady-state inactivation property of the A-current were all significantly altered by elevating the intracellular Ca2+. Replacement of the Ca2+ in the pipette solution with the same concentration of Co2+ did not mimic the effects of intracellular Ca2+ on the A-current amplitude and kinetics. These effects are similar to the behavior of the reconstituted Kv4/KChIP (K(V) channel-interacting proteins) current induced by expression of KChIP and Kv4 together in a cell expression system. Application of 10 microM arachidonic acid, which can bind to the Kv4/KChIP complex, inhibited the A-current and eliminated the effects of intracellular Ca2+ on the A-current, suggesting that KChIP may be involved in the effects of Ca2+ on the A-current. Collectively, our results indicate that elevated intracellular Ca2+ modulates the amplitude, fast activation, and steady-state inactivation characteristics of the A-current in rat cerebellar granule neurons, and this may occur via KChIP.
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science Research, Department of Physiology and Biophysics,School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Xi-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yan-Ai
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Mei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D003035:Cobalt / Q000378:metabolism; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated; D016718:Arachidonic Acid; D003035:Cobalt; D002118:Calcium