Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Psychophysically-anchored, Robust Thresholding in Studying Pain-related Lateralization of Oscillatory Prestimulus Activity

Psychophysically-anchored, Robust Thresholding in Studying Pain-related Lateralization of Oscillatory Prestimulus Activity

Published on: January 21, 2017

The Hyperpolarization-Activated HCN4 Channel is Important for Proper Maintenance of Oscillatory Activity in the

Mehrnoush Zobeiri¹, Rahul Chaudhary¹, Anne Blaich²

¹Institut für Physiologie I, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany.

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

|March 17, 2019

Abstract:

Hyperpolarization-activated cation channels are involved, among other functions, in learning and memory, control of synaptic transmission and epileptogenesis. The importance of the HCN1 and HCN2 isoforms for brain function has been demonstrated, while the role of HCN4, the third major neuronal HCN subunit, is not known. Here we show that HCN4 is essential for oscillatory activity in the thalamocortical (TC) network. HCN4 is selectively expressed in various thalamic nuclei, excluding the thalamic reticular nucleus. HCN4-deficient TC neurons revealed a massive reduction of Ih and strongly reduced intrinsic burst firing, whereas the current was normal in cortical pyramidal neurons. In addition, evoked bursting in a thalamic slice preparation was strongly reduced in the mutant mice probes. HCN4-deficiency also significantly slowed down thalamic and cortical oscillations during active wakefulness. Taken together, these results establish that thalamic HCN4 channels are essential for the production of rhythmic intrathalamic oscillations and determine regular TC oscillatory activity during alert states.

Keywords:

Ih HCN4 channels HCN4 knock out mice thalamocortical dysrhythmia thalamocortical oscillations

More Related Videos

Functional Reconstitution and Channel Activity Measurements of Purified Wildtype and Mutant CFTR Protein

Functional Reconstitution and Channel Activity Measurements of Purified Wildtype and Mutant CFTR Protein

Published on: March 9, 2015

GABA-activated Single-channel and Tonic Currents in Rat Brain Slices

GABA-activated Single-channel and Tonic Currents in Rat Brain Slices

Published on: July 17, 2011

Related Concept Videos

Antiepileptic Drugs: Potassium Channel Activators

Antiepileptic Drugs: Potassium Channel Activators

Ezocgabine or retigabine, an antiepileptic drug of remarkable efficacy, has revolutionized the management of seizures. It is a potassium channel activator, explicitly targeting the family of Q subtype potassium channels. It enhances the transmembrane potassium currents, regulating neuronal excitability. This action stabilizes the resting membrane potential, a pivotal factor in mitigating the hyperexcitability that characterizes epilepsy.
Ezogabine has gained approval as an adjunctive treatment...

Co-activators and Co-repressors

Co-activators and Co-repressors

Gene transcription is regulated by the synergistic action of several proteins that form a complex at a gene regulatory site. This is observed in eukaryotes, where the regulation of gene expression is a complex process. Regulatory proteins in eukaryotes can broadly be classified into two types – regulators that bind directly to specific DNA sequences and co-regulators that associate with regulatory proteins but cannot directly bind to the DNA. These co-regulators are further divided into...

tRNA Activation

tRNA Activation

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are present in both eukaryotes and bacteria. Though eukaryotes have 20 different aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to couple to 20 amino acids, many bacteria do not have genes for all of these aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Despite this, they still use all 20 amino acids to synthesize their proteins. For instance, some bacteria do not have the gene encoding the enzyme that couples glutamine with its partner tRNA. In these organisms, one enzyme adds glutamic acid to all of the...

tRNA Activation

tRNA Activation

Activation Energy

Activation Energy

Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy necessary for a chemical reaction to move forward. The higher the activation energy, the slower the rate of the reaction. However, adding heat to the reaction will increase the rate, since it causes molecules to move faster and increase the likelihood that molecules will collide. The collision and breaking of bonds represents the uphill phase of a reaction and generates the transition state. The transition state is an unstable high-energy state...

Eukaryotic Transcription Activators

Eukaryotic Transcription Activators

Transcription activators are proteins that promote the transcription of genes from DNA to RNA. In most cases, these proteins contain two separate domains ‒ a domain that binds to DNA and a domain for activating transcription; however, in some cases, a single domain is responsible for both binding and activation of transcription, as seen in the glucocorticoid receptor and MyoD.
The binding domains are capable of recognizing and interacting with regulatory sequences on the DNA. These...

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Rheological measurements on dense suspensions containing dendrite-like particles.

Physical review. E·2026

Selective preservation of shear-dependent platelet adhesion during microvolume storage in a compact agitation system.

Research and practice in thrombosis and haemostasis·2026

Aberrant TMPRSS6-Protease Regulation of Disease Mutant HCN4-KCNE1 Channel Complex Depends on the KCNE1-G38S Polymorphism.

Archiv der Pharmazie·2026

Psychedelics and the thalamocortical system: A scoping review.

Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior·2026

Naturally occurring ACE2 stalk variants are differentially released from the cell.

Scientific reports·2026

Salmonella SopB suppresses post-transcriptionally regulated cytokine release to reduce early tissue inflammation and delay disease progression.

Nature communications·2026

See all related articles