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Controllable Ion Channel Expression through Inducible Transient Transfection
Published on: February 17, 2017
Transient receptor potential ion channels: powerful regulators of cell function.
Adrian T Billeter1, Jason L Hellmann, Aruni Bhatnagar
1*Hiram C. Polk Jr MD Department of Surgery, Price Institute of Surgical Research, and †Diabetes and Obesity Center, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY.
Annals of Surgery
|August 31, 2013
Summary
Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are crucial in surgically relevant conditions like chronic pain and infection susceptibility. Modulating TRP channel activity presents promising new therapeutic strategies for surgical patients.
Area of Science:
- Ion channel research
- Molecular biology
- Surgical pathology
Background:
- Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels comprise 27 ion channels present in all human tissues.
- TRP channels are implicated in critical surgical issues including chronic pain, infection susceptibility, hypothermia, and cancer.
- Understanding TRP channel function is vital for addressing complex surgical complications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current understanding of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in health and disease.
- To focus on the role of TRP channels in surgically important conditions such as pain, inflammation, airway diseases, and malignant melanomas.
- To discuss structural properties essential for TRP channel activation.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature search on TRP channels.
- Review focused on surgically relevant disease processes.
- Analysis of TRP channel structural and functional properties.
Main Results:
- TRPA1 and TRPV1 channels on pain fibers are key in chronic pain development, with blockers showing analgesic potential.
- TRP channels on immune cells, particularly macrophages, are essential for proper immune function and infection defense.
- Temperature-sensitive TRP channels on macrophages may link hypothermia to infectious complications in surgical settings.
Conclusions:
- Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels play significant roles in surgically important diseases.
- Targeting TRP channel activation or blockade offers novel therapeutic avenues.
- Pharmacological modulation of TRP channels holds potential for managing pain and infections in surgical patients.
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Ion channels are specialized proteins on the plasma membrane that allow charged ions to pass down their electrochemical gradient. Their main function is to maintain the membrane potential which is critical for cell viability. These channels are either gated or non-gated and can transport more than a thousand ions within milliseconds for the cellular event to occur.
Compared to the gated ion channels, the non-gated channels, also known as leakage or passive channels, have no gating mechanism.
Compared to the gated ion channels, the non-gated channels, also known as leakage or passive channels, have no gating mechanism.
01:24Non-gated Ion Channels
Ion channels are specialized proteins on the plasma membrane that allow charged ions to pass down their electrochemical gradient. Their main function is to maintain the membrane potential which is critical for cell viability. These channels are either gated or non-gated and can transport more than a thousand ions within milliseconds for the cellular event to occur.
Compared to the gated ion channels, the non-gated channels, also known as leakage or passive channels, have no gating mechanism.
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Voltage-gated ion channels are transmembrane proteins that open and close in response to changes in the membrane potential. They are present on the membranes of all electrically excitable cells such as neurons, heart, and muscle cells.
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