Now, a novel way of treating cardiac disorders
By IANSTuesday, January 19, 2010
SYDNEY - Potassium modulates your heartbeat, say scientists in a significant discovery that could open up an entirely new way of treating cardiac disorders.
Agricultural Research (AgR) scientists, working with counterparts from Victoria University in New Zealand and the US, have discovered that calcium-activated-potassium (BK) ion channels, present in the heart, have a significant role in modulating its rate.
This finding overturns current thinking that BK ion channels are not directly involved in heartbeat regulation.
Scientists working in New Zealand and the US made this breakthrough by using mice lacking BK channels and novel ion channel inhibitory compounds, isolated and tested by AgR scientists Julie Dalziel and Sarah Finch.
We’re clearly excited by this discovery, and it’s fantastic to be involved with something that may pave the way for new heart drugs that act in a completely different way from those currently available,” said Dalziel.
“Up until now BK ion channels weren’t seen as a factor in modulating heart rate and had been overlooked by scientists, she said.
The results in our study support the hypothesis that BK channels are expressed and
functional in the heart. Their tissue location and role in cellular excitability remain to be determined, said Finch.
These findings were published in the January edition of PLoS One.
