Extracellular K+ concentration controls cell surface density of IKr in rabbit hearts and of the HERG channel in human cell lines. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Although the modulation of ion channel gating by hormones and drugs has been extensively studied, much less is known about how cell surface ion channel expression levels are regulated. Here, we demonstrate that the cell surface density of both the heterologously expressed K+ channel encoded by the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) and its native counterpart, the rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ channel (IKr), in rabbit hearts in vivo is precisely controlled by extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]o) within a physiologically relevant range. Reduction of [K+]o led to accelerated internalization and degradation of HERG channels within hours. Confocal analysis revealed colocalization between HERG and ubiquitin during the process of HERG internalization, and overexpression of ubiquitin facilitated HERG degradation under low [K+]o. The HERG channels colocalized with a marker of multivesicular bodies during internalization, and the internalized HERG channels were targeted to lysosomes. Our results provide the first evidence to our knowledge that the cell surface density of a voltage-gated K+ channel, HERG, is regulated by a biological factor, extracellular K+. Because hypokalemia is known to exacerbate long QT syndrome (LQTS) and Torsades de pointes tachyarrhythmias, our findings provide a potential mechanistic link between hypokalemia and LQTS.

publication date

  • August 24, 2009

Research

keywords

  • Delayed Rectifier Potassium Channels
  • Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels
  • Myocytes, Cardiac
  • Potassium

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC2735921

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 70349208609

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/sj.embor.7401004

PubMed ID

  • 19726881

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 119

issue

  • 9