Cycling matters: Sex hormone regulation of vascular potassium channels
Channels (Austin). 2023 Dec;17(1):2217637. doi: 10.1080/19336950.2023.2217637.ABSTRACTSex hormones and the reproductive cycle (estrus in rodents and menstrual in humans) have a known impact on arterial function. In spite of this, sex hormones and the estrus/menstrual cycle are often neglected experimental factors in vascular basic preclinical scientific research. Recent research by our own laboratory indicates that cyclical changes in serum concentrations of sex -hormones across the rat estrus cycle, primary estradiol, have significant consequences for the subcellular trafficking and function of KV. Vascular potassium chan...
Source: Channels - May 27, 2023 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Samuel N Baldwin Thomas A Jepps Iain A Greenwood Source Type: research
Non-canonical helical transitions and conformational switching are associated with characteristic flexibility and disorder indices in TRP and Kv channels
Channels (Austin). 2023 Dec;17(1):2212349. doi: 10.1080/19336950.2023.2212349.ABSTRACTStructural evidence and much experimental data have demonstrated the presence of non-canonical helical substructures (π and 310) in regions of great functional relevance both in TRP as in Kv channels. Through an exhaustive compositional analysis of the sequences underlying these substructures, we find that each of them is associated with characteristic local flexibility profiles, which in turn are implicated in significant conformational rearrangements and interactions with specific ligands. We found that α-to-π helical transitions are...
Source: Channels - May 17, 2023 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Abigail Garc ía-Morales Daniel Balleza Source Type: research
