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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Study of the Functions and Activities of Neuronal K-Cl Co-Transporter KCC2 Using Western Blotting
Published on: December 9, 2022
The CD26-related dipeptidyl aminopeptidase-like protein DPPX is a critical component of neuronal A-type K+ channels
Marcela S Nadal1, Andrés Ozaita, Yimy Amarillo
1Department of Physiology and Neuroscience and Department of Biochemistry, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Abstract:
Subthreshold-activating somatodendritic A-type potassium channels have fundamental roles in neuronal signaling and plasticity which depend on their unique cellular localization, voltage dependence, and kinetic properties. Some of the components of A-type K(+) channels have been identified; however, these do not reproduce the properties of the native channels, indicating that key molecular factors have yet to be unveiled. We purified A-type K(+) channel complexes from rat brain membranes and found that DPPX, a protein of unknown function that is structurally related to the dipeptidyl aminopeptidase and cell adhesion protein CD26, is a novel component of A-type K(+) channels. DPPX associates with the channels' pore-forming subunits, facilitates their trafficking and membrane targeting, reconstitutes the properties of the native channels in heterologous expression systems, and is coexpressed with the pore-forming subunits in the somatodendritic compartment of CNS neurons.
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