Potassium (K+) channels constitute the most diverse class of ion channels; these channels are especially important for regulation of the neuronal excitability and provide signaling activity in a variety of ways. These channels are major determinants of the membrane excitability, influencing the resting potential of the membranes, waveforms and frequencies of action potentials, and thresholds of excitation. Voltagegated K+ channels do not exist as independent units merely responding to changes in the transmembrane potential; these are macromolecular complexes able to integrate a great variety of cellular signals that provide fine tuning of channel activities. Compounds that change K+ channel properties are commonly employed as therapeutic agents in a number of pathologies, in particular arrhythmias, cancer, and neurological disorders (psychoses, epilepsy, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease).
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The article is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the outstanding Ukrainian physiologist Academician Platon Kostyuk, who devoted himself to ion channel research.
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Magura, I.S., Bogdanova, N.A. & Dolgaya, E.V. Potassium Channels and Signal Transduction Pathways in Neurons. Neurophysiology 47, 71–76 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11062-015-9499-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11062-015-9499-9