Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Purification of Endogenous Drosophila Transient Receptor Potential Channels
Published on: December 28, 2021
Photoswitchable TRPC6 channel activators evoke distinct channel kinetics reflecting different gating behaviors
Maximilian Keck1, Christian Hermann1, Kyra Lützel2
1Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, 80336 Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
The non-selective transient receptor potential canonical 6 (TRPC6) cation channels have several physiological and pathophysiological effects. They are activated by the lipid second messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) and by non-lipidic compounds such as GSK 1702934A (GSK). Advances in photopharmacology led to the development of photoswitchable activators such as PhoDAG, OptoDArG, and OptoBI-1 that can be switched ON and OFF with the spatiotemporal precision of light. We aimed to elucidate whether these photopharmaceuticals allow for a reliable determination of the ion channel current kinetics. We performed electrophysiological whole-cell measurements in the overexpression system and analyzed TRPC6 currents induced by photoswitching. We observed distinct activation, deactivation and inactivation current kinetics suggesting that each photoswitchable activator elicits a distinct active channel state. Notably, the current kinetics strongly depended on the intensity of the light source. Altogether, photopharmaceuticals are advantageous for an extended biophysical characterization of whole-cell currents and provide insight into their gating mechanism.
More Related Videos
08:27Expression and Purification of the Human Lipid-sensitive Cation Channel TRPC3 for Structural Determination by Single-particle Cryo-electron Microscopy
Published on: January 7, 2019
08:54Monitoring Leucine-Rich Repeat Containing 8 Channel (LRRC8/VRAC) Activity Using Sensitized-Emission Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (SE-FRET)
Published on: August 9, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Ligand-gated Ion Channels
Three Subfamilies of Ligand-gated Ion Channels
Ligand-gated ion channels fall into three subfamilies. The 'Cys-loop' includes the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glycine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors. The second one is the 'Pore-loop' channels that...
G-Protein Gated Ion Channels
Sensory...
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Mechanically-gated Ion Channels
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...