Research highlights
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The Background Potassium Channel Task-3 Modulates Cold Sensing.
Ion Channel Profile of TRPM8 Cold Receptors Reveals a Role of TASK-3 Potassium Channels in Thermosensation
Cell Reports (2014), September 4
Cell-Reports abstract
Cruz Morenilla-Palao, Enoch Luis, Carlos Fernández-Peña, Eva Quintero, Janelle L. Weaver, Douglas A. Bayliss and Félix Viana.
Animals sense cold ambient temperatures through the activation of peripheral thermoreceptors tuned to different temperatures. These receptors express TRPM8, a cold- and menthol-activated cation channel. In this study, Morenilla-Palao et al. used FACS techniques to purify TRPM8-expressing neurons and described their ion channel transcriptome. They show that cold thermoreceptors are highly enriched in TASK-3 leak potassium channels. Genetic or pharmacological inactivation of TASK-3 channels increased the excitability of thermoreceptors and decreased the cold pain threshold of living mice.
Research Highlights Archive 
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