Publications by authors named "Kirsten G Lee"
Acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) subunits associate to form homomeric or heteromeric proton-gated ion channels in neurons throughout the nervous system. The ASIC1a subunit plays an important role in establishing the kinetics of proton-gated currents in the CNS, and activation of ASIC1a homomeric channels induces neuronal death after local acidosis that accompanies cerebral ischemia. The ASIC2b subunit is expressed in the brain in a pattern that overlaps ASIC1a, yet the contribution of ASIC2b has remained elusive.
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- Primary cilia are essential cellular structures that play critical roles in sensing and signaling, and their dysfunction is linked to various diseases known as ciliopathies.
- Neurons in the mammalian brain have primary cilia that house specific signaling proteins, but the functions of most of these proteins in neurons remain largely unexplored.
- This research reveals that dopamine receptor 1 (D1) is found in the cilia of mouse central neurons and that its movement between cilia and the rest of the cell is influenced by environmental factors, involving proteins associated with Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS).
The acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are proton-gated cation channels activated when extracellular pH declines. In rodents, the Accn2 gene encodes transcript variants ASIC1a and ASIC1b, which differ in the first third of the protein and display distinct channel properties. In humans, ACCN2 transcript variant 2 (hVariant 2) is homologous to mouse ASIC1a.
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