Circadian effects on ionic current co-regulation

Co-regulation of ionic currents means that ion channels are expressed in a way that depends on the levels at which other (originally thought to be independent) ion channels are expressed. This can be observed both at the mRNA level by counting the mRNA molecules that code for each ion channel, or at the level of the ionic currents that the expressed channels carry (figure above). We have observed that these interactions between ion channels change between night and day as shown in the figure. We are studying this phenomenon in neurons from the mouse visual cortex and hippocampus in collaboration with the group of Dr. Alfredo Kirkwood at Johns Hopkins University. We want to understand if it is due to light exposure or truly an effect of the circadian clock, and what role this plays in the physiology of these neurons.

References

1. Tran, T., Unal, C.T., Zaborszky, L., Rotstein, H.G., Kirkwood, A. and Golowasch, J. (2019) Ionic current correlations are ubiquitous across phyla. Scientific Reports, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-38405-6