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Potassium Large Conductance Calcium-activated Channel, Subfamily M, Alpha 1
Calcium-activated potassium channel subunit alpha-1 also known as large conductance calcium-activated potassium channel, subfamily M, alpha member 1 (KCa1.1), or BK channel alpha subunit, is a voltage gated potassium channel encoded by the KCNMA1 gene and characterized by their large conductance of potassium ions (K+) through cell membranes. Function BK channels are activated (opened) by changes in membrane electrical potential and/or by increases in concentration of intracellular calcium ion (Ca2+). Opening of BK channels allows K+ to passively flow through the channel, down the electrochemical gradient. Under typical physiological conditions, this results in an efflux of K+ from the cell, which leads to cell membrane hyperpolarization (a decrease in the electrical potential across the cell membrane) and a decrease in cell excitability (a decrease in the probability that the cell will transmit an action potential). BK channels are essential for the regulation of several key ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potassium Channel
Potassium channels are the most widely distributed type of ion channel found in virtually all organisms. They form potassium-selective pores that span cell membranes. Potassium channels are found in most cell types and control a wide variety of cell functions. Function Potassium channels function to conduct potassium ions down their electrochemical gradient, doing so both rapidly (up to the diffusion rate of K+ ions in bulk water) and selectively (excluding, most notably, sodium despite the sub-angstrom difference in ionic radius). Biologically, these channels act to set or reset the resting potential in many cells. In excitable cells, such as neurons, the delayed counterflow of potassium ions shapes the action potential. By contributing to the regulation of the cardiac action potential duration in cardiac muscle, malfunction of potassium channels may cause life-threatening arrhythmias. Potassium channels may also be involved in maintaining vascular tone. They also regulate ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a hydroxyl group). Ethanol is a Volatility (chemistry), volatile, Combustibility and flammability, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste. It is a psychoactive recreational drug, the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks. Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation process of Carbohydrate, sugars by yeasts or via Petrochemistry, petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. It has medical applications as an antiseptic and disinfectant. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the Chemical synthesis, synthesis of organic compounds, and as a Alcohol fuel, fuel source. Ethanol also can be dehydrated to make ethylene, an important chemical feedstock. As of 2006, world produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcium-activated Potassium Channel
Calcium-activated potassium channels are potassium channels gated by calcium, or that are structurally or phylogenetically related to calcium gated channels. They were first discovered in 1958 by Gardos who saw that calcium levels inside of a cell could affect the permeability of potassium through that cell membrane. Then in 1970, Meech was the first to observe that intracellular calcium could trigger potassium currents. In humans they are divided into three subtypes: BK channel, large conductance or BK channels, which have very high conductance which range from 100 to 300 pS, intermediate conductance or IK channels, with intermediate conductance ranging from 25 to 100 pS, and small conductance or SK channels with small conductances from 2-25 pS. This family of ion channels is, for the most part, activated by intracellular Ca2+ and contains 8 members in the human genome. However, some of these channels (the KCa4 and KCa5 channels) are responsive instead to other intracellular ligan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diagnosis (American TV Series)
''Diagnosis'' is a 2019 documentary streaming television series. The series follows Dr. Lisa Sanders as she attempts to help patients with rare illnesses and searches for a diagnosis and cure using wisdom of the crowd methods. The show is based on her column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. It was released on August 16, 2019, on Netflix. Author Lisa Sanders was born on July 24, 1956 in South Carolina. Sanders grew up loving the idea of mystery and grew very fond of Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional character, detective Sherlock Holmes. Sanders went to the College of William & Mary where she majored in English. After her graduation in 1979 she was hired by ABC News as a journalist. During her 10-year career as a journalist, Sanders won an Emmy award for her reporting of Hurricane Hugo yet she found herself drawn to stories that focused around both mysteries as well as medicine. After about 10 years of reporting Sanders decided to pursue a career within the medical field. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iberiotoxin
Iberiotoxin (IbTX) is an ion channel toxin purified from the Eastern Indian red scorpion ''Hottentotta tamulus''. Iberiotoxin selectively inhibits the current through large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels. Chemistry Iberiotoxin is a 37-amino acid peptide. The formula is C179H274N50O55S7. It is also known as "Potassium channel toxin alpha-KTx 1.3" or IbTx. The complete amino acid sequence has been defined and it displays 68% sequence homology with charybdotoxin. Target and mode of action Iberiotoxin binds to the outer face of the large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (maxiK or BK channels) with high affinity (Kd ~1 nM). It selectively inhibits the current by decreasing both the probability of opening and the open time of the channel. Toxicity The venom produces mainly cardiopulmonary abnormalities like circulatory derangements, myocarditis and changes in cardiac sarcolemmal ATPase and by these abnormalities it can finally cause death. In rur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paxilline
Paxilline is a toxic, tremorgenic diterpene indole polycyclic alkaloid molecule produced by '' Penicillium paxilli ''which was first characterized in 1975. Paxilline is one of a class of tremorigenic mycotoxins, is a potassium channel blocker, and is potentially genotoxic. Paxilline was found to significantly extend the lifespan, healthspan, and mobility of aged C. elegans worms, but had no such effect on young worms. Paxilline was not found to induce seizures when injected intracerebroventricularly in mice but paradoxically had anticonvulsant activity against picrotoxin and pentylenetetrazol seizures in mice. It has also been used in mice to induce autism-like behaviors through inhibition of the BK channel. Biosynthesis Paxiline biosynthesis starts with the synthesis of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate via the terpenoid pathway and indole-3-glycerol phosphate, which is an intermediate in the tryptophan biosynthesis pathway. By expressing six genes known to be necessary for Paxil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placebo
A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general, placebos can affect how patients perceive their condition and encourage the body's chemical processes for relieving pain and a few other symptoms, but have no impact on the disease itself. Improvements that patients experience after being treated with a placebo can also be due to unrelated factors, such as regression to the mean (a statistical effect where an unusually high or low measurement is likely to be followed by a less extreme one). The use of placebos in clinical medicine raises ethical concerns, especially if they are disguised as an active treatment, as this introduces dishonesty into the doctor–patient relationship and bypasses informed consent. While it was once assumed that this deception was necessary for placebos to have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol-Myers Squibb
The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations. For fiscal 2021, it had a total revenue of $46.4 billion. Bristol Myers Squibb manufactures prescription pharmaceuticals and biologics in several therapeutic areas, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psychiatric disorders. BMS's primary research and development (R&D) sites are located in Lawrence, New Jersey (formerly Squibb, near Princeton), Summit, New Jersey, formerly HQ of Celgene, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Redwood City, California, and Seville in Spain, with other sites in Devens and Cambridge, Massachusetts, East Syracuse, New York, Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium, Tokyo, Japan, Bangalore, India, and Wirral, United Kingdom. BMS previously had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurotoxic
Neurotoxicity is a form of toxicity in which a biological, chemical, or physical agent produces an adverse effect on the structure or function of the central and/or peripheral nervous system. It occurs when exposure to a substance – specifically, a neurotoxin or neurotoxicant– alters the normal activity of the nervous system in such a way as to cause permanent or reversible damage to nervous tissue. This can eventually disrupt or even kill neurons, which are cells that transmit and process signals in the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Neurotoxicity can result from organ transplants, radiation treatment, certain drug therapies, recreational drug use, and exposure to heavy metals, bites from certain species of venomous snakes, pesticides, certain industrial cleaning solvents, fuels and certain naturally occurring substances. Symptoms may appear immediately after exposure or be delayed. They may include limb weakness or numbness, loss of memory, vision, and/or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transmembrane Domain
A transmembrane domain (TMD) is a membrane-spanning protein domain. TMDs generally adopt an alpha helix topological conformation, although some TMDs such as those in porins can adopt a different conformation. Because the interior of the lipid bilayer is hydrophobic, the amino acid residues in TMDs are often hydrophobic, although proteins such as membrane pumps and ion channels can contain polar residues. TMDs vary greatly in length, sequence, and hydrophobicity, adopting organelle-specific properties. Functions of transmembrane domains Transmembrane domains are known to perform a variety of functions. These include: * Anchoring transmembrane proteins to the membrane. *Facilitating molecular transport of molecules such as ions and proteins across biological membranes; usually hydrophilic residues and binding sites in the TMDs help in this process. *Signal transduction across the membrane; many transmembrane proteins, such as G protein-coupled receptors, receive extracellular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KCNMB4
Calcium-activated potassium channel subunit beta-4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''KCNMB4'' gene. MaxiK channels are large conductance, voltage and calcium-sensitive potassium channels which are fundamental to the control of smooth muscle tone and neuronal excitability. MaxiK channels can be formed by 2 subunits: the pore-forming alpha subunit and the modulatory beta subunit. The protein encoded by this gene is an auxiliary beta subunit which slows activation kinetics, leads to steeper calcium sensitivity, and shifts the voltage range of current activation to more negative potentials than does the beta 1 subunit. See also * BK channel BK channels (big potassium), are large conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, also known as Maxi-K, slo1, or Kca1.1. BK channels are voltage-gated potassium channels that conduct large amounts of potassium ions (K+) across the ce ... * Voltage-gated potassium channel References Further reading * * * * * * * * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KCNMB3
Calcium-activated potassium channel subunit beta-3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''KCNMB3'' gene. MaxiK channels are large conductance, voltage and calcium-sensitive potassium channels which are fundamental to the control of smooth muscle tone and neuronal excitability. MaxiK channels can be formed by 2 subunits: the pore-forming alpha subunit and the modulatory beta subunit. The protein encoded by this gene is an auxiliary beta subunit which may partially inactivate or slightly decrease the activation time of MaxiK alpha subunit currents. At least four transcript variants encoding four different isoforms have been found for this gene. See also * BK channel BK channels (big potassium), are large conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, also known as Maxi-K, slo1, or Kca1.1. BK channels are voltage-gated potassium channels that conduct large amounts of potassium ions (K+) across the ce ... * Voltage-gated potassium channel References Further rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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