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Commentary
Cellscience Reviews Vol 5 No 1
ISSN 1742-8130 |
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Dynamic selectivity: a means of enhancing ion channel versatility
Yaroslav M. Shuba 1, Roman Skryma 2 & Natalia Prevarskaya 2
1 International Center of Molecular Physiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine &
2 Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (USTL), France.
Received 20th July © Cellscience 2008
The ability of ion channels to selectively transport only certain ion species was long considered to be a conserved property of each channel type. This postulate was initially challenged by demonstration that purinergic P2X receptor-channels may progressively become less selective depending on the duration of the exposure to agonists. A recent study by Chung et al. (2008) extended these findings to the structurally unrelated heat/capsaicin-activated TRPV1 channel, suggesting that dynamic selectivity may represent a common phenomenon. The implications of such changes may range from altered Ca2+ signaling, due to altered Ca2+ influx, to the facilitation of therapeutic, physiological or toxic effects of various endogenous and exogenous compounds.
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