Abstract
Rationale. The family of calcium-activated potassium channels consists of four members with varying biological functions and conductances. Besides membrane potential modulation, SK channels have been found to be involved in cardiac pacemaker cell development from ES cells and morphological shaping of neural stem cells. Objective. Distinct SK channel subtype expression in ES cells might elucidate their precise impact during cardiac development. We chose SK channel subtype 4 as a potential candidate influencing embryonic stem cell differentiation. Methods. We generated a doxycycline inducible mouse ES cell line via targeted homologous recombination of a cassette expressing a bicistronic construct encoding SK4 and a fluorophore from the murine HPRT locus. Conclusion. We characterized the mouse ES cell line iSK4-AcGFP. The cassette is readily expressed under the control of doxycycline, and the overexpression of SK4 led to an increase in cardiac and pacemaker cell differentiation thereby serving as a unique tool to characterize the cell biological variances due to specific SK channel overexpression.
Highlights
Calcium-activated potassium channels (SKCas) of small and intermediate conductance represent a family of pore proteins which selectively transduce transmembranous potassium ion currents with differing conductance capacity [1]
Increased SK activity led to the differentiation of Embryonic stem (ES) cells into a high proportion of cardiomyocytes with the majority of the cells showing functional and morphological properties of cardiac pacemaker cells
These experiments were mainly based on the potentiation of SK channel activity mediated by the commonly used chemical compound 1-EBIO (1-ethyl-2-benzimidazolinone)
Summary
Calcium-activated potassium channels (SKCas) of small and intermediate conductance represent a family of pore proteins which selectively transduce transmembranous potassium ion currents with differing conductance capacity [1]. Besides the modulation of the membrane potential in various tissues and cell populations, these ion channels have been found to be involved in a number of biological processes, for example, proliferation, cell differentiation, and cell morphology As these mechanisms are present in stem or progenitor cells of different origin and potency, a role in developmental processes can be hypothesized [8,9,10,11].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
