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 (see figure above). The figure above shows an example that we have studied in mouse neurons from basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in collaboration with Dr. Laszlo Zaborsky's group from Rutgers University-Newark. We also study this phenomenon in neurons from the mouse visual cortex and hippocampus in collaboration with the group of Dr. Alfredo Kirkwood at Johns Hopkins University, as well as in crab stomatogastric neurons. We use both electrohysiological, molecular and computational tools to understand the functional role of this coordinated expression in collaboration with Dr. Horacio Rotstein and PhD student Smita More-Potdar here in the Biology Department.

References

1. Franci, A., OLeary, T., Golowasch, J. (2020) Positive dynamical networks in neuronal regulation: how tunable variability coexists with robustness. IEEE Control Systems Letters. 4(4): 946-951.

2. Golowasch, J. (2019) Neuronal homeostasis: Voltage brings it all together. Current Biology (Dispatch), 29, R623–R646.

3. 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

4. Rotstein, H.G., Olarinre, M. and Golowasch, J. (2016) Dynamic compensation mechanism gives rise to period and duty-cycle level sets in oscillatory neuronal models. J. Neurophysiol., 116: 2431-2452.

5. Unal, T., Golowasch, P. and Zaborszky, L. (2012) Adult mouse basal forebrain harbors two distinct cholinergic populations defined by their electrophysiology. Frontiers in behavioral Neuroscience, 6(21): 1-14.