Ion Channel Regulation by the LKB1-AMPK Signalling Pathway: The Key to Carotid Body Activation by Hypoxia and Metabolic Homeostasis at the Whole Body Level

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Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

4-2010

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Abstract

Our recent investigations provide further support for the proposal that, consequent to inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) mediates carotid body excitation by hypoxia. Consistent with the effects of hypoxia, intracellular dialysis from a patch pipette of an active (thiophosphorylated) recombinant AMPK heterotrimer (α2β2γ1) or application of the AMPK activators AICAR and A769662: (1) Inhibited BKCa currents and TASK K+ currents in rat carotid body type I cells; (2) Inhibited whole-cell currents carried by KCa1.1 and TASK3, but not TASK1 channels expressed in HEK293 cells; (3) Triggered carotid body activation. Furthermore, preliminary data suggest that either conditional knockout of LKB1 in type I cells or global knockout of the catalytic α1 and α2 subunit of AMPK, respectively, markedly attenuated the ventilatory response of mice to hypoxia. Accumulating evidence therefore suggests that the LKB1-AMPK signalling pathway is necessary for hypoxia-response coupling by the carotid body, and serves to regulate oxygen and therefore energy supply at the whole body level.

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Presented at the 2010 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Science Research Conference, Anaheim, CA.

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