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(Circulation Research. 2005;97:1211.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Potassium Channels and Proliferation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

William F. Jackson

From the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Correspondence to William F. Jackson, PhD, Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, B420 Life Sciences Bldg, East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail jacks783@msu.edu

See related article, pages 1280–1287

Key Words: potassium channels • vascular smooth muscle • proliferation • cell division • KV.3.4 • KCNC4

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Potassium channels play a major role in the immediate and long term regulation of vascular smooth muscle function.¹ The activity of these ion channels determines and regulates cell membrane potential, which, in turn, regulates the open state probability of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels, Ca²⁺ influx, and intracellular Ca²⁺. The concentration of intracellular Ca²⁺ not only regulates the immediate contractile responses of smooth muscle cells (ie, vascular tone),¹ but also the long term responses of these cells through control of gene expression.² By their effect on membrane potential, K⁺ channels also establish the electrochemical gradient that determines the movement of other ions across the plasma membrane. In addition, potassium channels participate significantly in cell volume regulation.³

Over the past two decades it has become apparent that K⁺ channels also play an important role in cell proliferation.^4–8 In vascular smooth muscle cells, investigators have identified increased expression of intermediate conductance, Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ (IK_Ca) channels (KCa3.1, locus: KCNN4) associated with proliferation,⁴ and recent studies have shown that selective inhibition of these channels prevents vascular smooth muscle proliferation associated with injury-induced restenosis.⁹ The study by Miguel-Velado et al in this issue of Circulation Research¹⁰ confirms an important role for K⁺ channels in vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. The authors extend this area by showing that Kv3.4 channel (locus: KCNC4) expression is increased in proliferating smooth muscle cells from human uterine artery and that blockade of these channels inhibits proliferation. These K_V channels also have been implicated in proliferation of an oral squamous . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Contribution of Kv Channels to Phenotypic Remodeling of Human Uterine Artery Smooth Muscle Cells

Eduardo Miguel-Velado, Alejandro Moreno-Domínguez, Olaia Colinas, Pilar Cidad, Magda Heras, M. Teresa Pérez-García, and José Ramón López-López
Circ. Res. 2005 97: 1280-1287. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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