The mechanism of Ca-independent activation of BKCa channels in mouse inner hair cells and the crucial role of the BK channels in auditory perception.

BK channels are expressed in mouse cochlear inner hair cells (IHCs) and exhibit Ca-independent activation at negative potentials. However, the mechanism underlying Ca-independent activation of the BK channels in mouse IHCs remains unknown. In this study, we found the BK channel expressed in IHCs contains both the stress-axis regulated exon 2 variant and an alternative splice of exon9 (alt9), which significantly shift the voltage dependence of the BK channels when coexpressed with LRRC52 in 0 [Ca].

Activating PV-positive neurons in ventral thalamic reticular nucleus reduces pain sensitivity in mice.

Previous studies have demonstrated that thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) and the sub-nuclei play important roles in pain sensation. Our previous findings showed that activating parvalbumin-positive (PV+) neurons in dorsal sector of TRN (dTRN) could reduce the pain threshold and consequently increase the pain sensitivity of mice. Recent studies have shown that activation of GABAergic projection of TRN to ventrobasal thalamus (VB) alleviated pathological pain.