The mechanism by which electricity is transmitted through nerve fibers is fundamental and extremely important in biology, and the mechanism of electrical excitement of nerves discovered by Dr. Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, who has won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is the established theory. Has been said.

　However, the research group has now used a new technique that combines pressure and patch clamps in the node of Ranvier's annulus of the mammalian myelinated nerve (the space between the two insulating sheaths that cover the nerve fibers). I made a discovery different from the established theory.It was found that nerve fibers do not depend on voltage-gated potassium channels and conduct efficiently using "K2P channels (two-pore type potassium channels)".This is the first discovery in the world.

　Until now, this phenomenon has not been discovered because the size of mammalian nerve fibers is about one-500th that of giant squid axons, and the patch clamp method that directly measures the electrical activity of nerves. This is because it has been experimentally impossible to do.Therefore, even today, mammalian neurotransmission methods have been described using mechanisms discovered in squids 1 years ago.This discovery is due to the fact that by combining a pressure clamp and a patch clamp, we were able to develop a technology for stable recording from mammalian nerve fibers.

　By elucidating the transmission mechanism of nerve fibers and the role of K2P receptors, we are developing new therapeutic agents for demyelinating diseases such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and multiple sclerosis, which have been regarded as intractable. It is expected.

Paper information:[Neuron] TREK-1 and TRAAK are principal K + channels at the nodes of Ranvier for rapid action potential conduction on mammalian myelinated afferent nerves