Article

K(v)7 channels: function, pharmacology and channel modulators.

NeuroSearch A/S, DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark.
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry (impact factor: 4.17). 02/2006; 6(10):999-1023.
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT K(v)7 channels are unique among K(+) channels, since four out of the five channel subtypes have well-documented roles in the development of human diseases. They have distinct physiological functions in the heart and in the nervous system, which can be ascribed to their voltage-gating properties. The K(v)7 channels also lend themselves to pharmacological modulation, and synthetic openers as well as blockers of the channels, regulating neuronal excitability, have existed even before the K(v)7 channels were identified by cloning. In the present review we give an account on the focused efforts to develop selective modulators, openers as well as blockers, of the K(v)7 channel subtypes, which have been undertaken during recent years, along with a discussion of the K(v)7 ion channel physiology and therapeutic indications for modulators of the neuronal K(v)7 channels.

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Keywords

channels
 
five channel subtypes
 
focused efforts
 
K(v)7 channel subtypes
 
K(v)7 channels
 
K(v)7 ion channel physiology
 
modulators
 
nervous system
 
neuronal K(v)7 channels
 
present review
 
regulating neuronal excitability
 
selective modulators
 
synthetic openers
 
voltage-gating properties