The amplitude and inactivation properties of the delayed potassium currents are regulated by protein kinase activity in hair cells of the frog semicircular canals.

In hair cells dissected from the frog crista ampullaris, the combination of a calcium-dependent (IKCa) and a purely voltage-dependent component (IKV) gives rise to the delayed potassium current complex (IKD). These currents have been recently reported to display slow depolarization-induced inactivation and biphasic inactivation removal by hyperpolarization. The amplitude and inactivation kinetics of both IKCa and IKV are drastically modulated by a previously unrecognized mechanism of protein phosphorylation (sensitive to kinase inhibitors H89 and KT5823), which does not interfere with the transient potassium current (IA) or the calcium current (ICa). IKD amplitude was stable in cells patched with pipettes containing 8 mM ATP or under perforated-patch; under these conditions, a 10 min treatment with 10 µM H89 or 1-10 µM KT5823 reduced IKD amplitude by a mean of 67% at +40 mV. Similarly affected was the isolated IKV component (ICa blocked with Cd(2+)). Thus, a large potassium conductance can be activated by depolarization, but it is made available to the cell to a variable extent that depends on membrane potential and protein kinase activity. The total gKD ranged 4.6-44.0 nS in control cells, according to the level of steady-state inactivation, and was reduced to 1.4-2.7 nS after protein kinase inhibition. When sinusoidal membrane potential changes in the -70/-10 mV range were applied, to mimic receptor response to hair bundle deflection, IKD proved the main current dynamically activated and the only one regulated by PK: H89 decreased the total outward charge during each cycle by 60%. Phosphorylation appears to control both the amount of IKCa and IKV conductance activated by depolarization and the fraction thereof which can be rescued by removal of inactivation. The balance between the depolarizing transduction current and the repolarizing potassium current, and eventually the transmitter release at the cytoneural junction, are therefore modulated by a phosphorylation-mediated process.