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Ca2+-activated K+ channels of the BK-type in the mouse brain

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Abstract

An antibody against the 442 carboxy-terminal amino acids of the BK channel α-subunit detects high immunoreactivity within the telencephalon in cerebral cortices, olfactory bulb, basal ganglia and hippocampus, while lower levels are found in basal forebrain regions and amygdala. Within the diencephalon, high density was found in nuclei of the ventral and dorsal thalamus and the medial habenular nucleus, and low density in the hypothalamus. The fasciculus retroflexus and its termination in the mesencephalic interpeduncular nucleus are prominently stained. Other mesencephalic expression sites are periaquaeductal gray and raphe nuclei. In the rhombencephalon, BK channels are enriched in the cerebellar cortex and in the locus coeruleus. Strong immunoreactivity is also contained in the vestibular nuclei, but not in cranial nerves and their intramedullary course of their roots. On the cellular level, BK channels show pre- and postsynaptic localizations, i.e., in somata, dendrites, axons and synaptic terminals.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Isolde Breuning and Clement Kabagema for excellent technical assistance, Johan Storm for critical reading the manuscript and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Pharmazeutisches Institut der Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Ulrike Sausbier, Matthias Sausbier, Claudia Arntz & Peter Ruth

  2. Division für Molekulare und Zelluläre Pharmakologie, Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Claudia A. Sailer & Hans-Günther Knaus

  3. Institut für Anatomie der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany

    Winfried Neuhuber

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  1. Ulrike Sausbier
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  2. Matthias Sausbier
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  3. Claudia A. Sailer
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  5. Hans-Günther Knaus
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  7. Peter Ruth
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Correspondence to Peter Ruth.

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Ulrike Sausbier and Matthias Sausbier have contributed equally to this work

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Sausbier, U., Sausbier, M., Sailer, C.A. et al. Ca2+-activated K+ channels of the BK-type in the mouse brain. Histochem Cell Biol 125, 725–741 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-005-0124-7

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