Seizing the brake: defining the role of KCNQ2/3 channels in the brain
My seminar will focus on KCNQ channels, a potassium channel family implicated in multiple neonatal epileptic encephalopathy disorders. I will first discuss the role of KCNQ2/3 channels in interneurons. Previous research on the function of KCNQ2/3 channels nearly exclusively focused on excitatory neurons, but in fact these channels are also expressed by inhibitory interneurons. Insight regarding the function of KCNQ2/3 channels in interneurons has become critical as some newly identified epilepsy-associated KCNQ2/3 mutations have a gain-of-function effect on channel activity, and such mutations may lead to seizures through diminished inhibitory neuron activity. Second, I will present data regarding the molecular components that underlie the slow afterhyperpolarization (sAHP) in hippocampus and the role of KCNQ2/3 channels in the sAHP.
The department of Physiology & Biophysics acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. It is in this land where we work, teach, and learn.
