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Neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) display coordinated circadian changes in electrical activity that are critical for daily rhythms in physiology, metabolism, and behavior. SCN neurons depolarize spontaneously and fire repetitively during the day and hyperpolarize, drastically reducing firing rates, at night. To explore the hypothesis that rapidly activating and inactivating A-type (IA) voltage-gated K+ (Kv) channels, which are also active at subthreshold membrane potentIAls, are critical regulators of the excitability of SCN neurons, we examined locomotor activity and SCN firing in mice lacking Kv1.4 (Kv1.4-/-), Kv4.2 (Kv4.2-/-), or Kv4.3 (Kv4.3-/-), the pore-forming (α) subunits of IA channels. Mice lacking either Kv1.4 or Kv4.2 α subunits have markedly shorter (0.5 h) periods of locomotor activity than wild-type (WT) mice. In vitro extracellular multi-electrode recordings revealed that Kv1.4-/-and Kv4.2-/-SCN neurons display circadIAn rhythms in repetitive firing, but with shorter periods (0.5 h) than WT cells. In contrast, the periods of wheel-running activity in Kv4.3-/- mice and firing in Kv4.3-/- SCN neurons were indistinguishable from WT animals and neurons. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that the transcripts encoding all three Kv channelα subunits, Kv1.4, Kv4.2, and Kv4.3, are expressed constitutively throughout the day and night in the SCN. Together, these results demonstrate that Kv1.4- and Kv4.2-encoded IA channels regulate the intrinsic excitability of SCN neurons during the day and night and determine the period and amplitude of circadian rhythms in SCN neuron firing and locomotor behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The channel pore-forming α subunit Kv4.2 is a major constituent of A-type (IA) potassium currents and a key regulator of neuronal membraneexcitability. Multiple mechanisms regulate the properties, subcellular targeting, and cell-surface expression of Kv4.2-encoded channels. In the present study, shotgun proteomic analyses of immunoprecipitated mouse brain Kv4.2 channel complexes unexpectedly identified the voltage-gated Na+ channel accessory subunit Navβ1. Voltage-clamp and current-clamp recordings revealed that knockdown of Nav&ngr;1 decreases IA densities in isolated cortical neurons and that action potential waveforms are prolonged and repetitive firing is increased in Scn1b-null cortical pyramidal neurons lacking Navβ1. Biochemical and voltage-clamp experiments further demonstrated that Navβ1 interacts with and increases the stability of the heterologously expressed Kv4.2 protein, resulting in greater total and cell-surface Kv4.2 protein expression and in larger Kv4.2-encoded current densities. Together, the results presented here identify Navβ1 as a component of native neuronal Kv4.2-encoded IA channel complexes and a novel regulator of IA channel densities and neuronal excitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]