ABSTRACT
The differentiation of neural stem cells/neural precursors (NSCs/NPs) is a hot spot in neurobiological research. It used to identify their differentiation degree only by morphologic appearances. The functional characteristics, such as electrical properties of cellular membrane and ion channel activities, are drawing more and more attention with the development of patch clamp technique. It was summarized the recent progress in the study of NSCs/NPs functional differentiation using patch clamp, some existing problems and research perspectives were suggested.
ABSTRACT
Several signal transduction pathways have been implicated in ischemic preconditioning induced by the activation of ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels. We examined whether protein kinase C (PKC) modulated the activity of KATP channels by recording KATP channel currents in rabbit ventricular myocytes using patch-clamp technique and found that phorbol 12, 13-didecanoate (PDD) enhanced pinacidil-induced KATP channel activity in the cell-attached configuration; and this effect was prevented by bisindolylmaleimide (BIM). KATP channel activity was not increased by 4alpha-PDD. In excised inside-out patches, PKC stimulated KATP channels in the presence of 1 mM ATP, and this effect was abolished in the presence of BIM. Heat-inactivated PKC had no effect on channel activity. PKC-induced activation of KATP channels was reversed by PP2A, and this effect was not detected in the presence of okadaic acid. These results suggest that PKC activates KATP channels in rabbit ventricular myocytes.