Spermine Is Fit to Block Inward Rectifier (Kir) Channels

Abstract
Molecular biology has shown there to be a great diver- sity of potassium channel isoforms. Among the simplest structurally are the inward rectifier potassium channel, KCNJ gene family. These channels are open in the re- gion of the resting potential, a potential that they therefore help to determine. Some 14 genes are known for this family, classified into 7 subfamilies in terms of sequence homology or identity. These subfamilies are identified as Kir1.0 through Kir7.0 (for review see Stan- field et al., 2002).