Horse TASK1 channel emerges as atrial-selective AF target
- TASK1 potassium channels are an atrial-selective antiarrhythmic target, but their role in horses, where atrial fibrillation is the commonest significant arrhythmia, was unknown.
- In oocytes, equine and human TASK1 were structurally conserved with similar background currents, though drug potency differed somewhat.
- Equine expression was concentrated in atrial and nodal tissue, minimal in ventricle; the in vivo ketodoxapram result is truncated in the source.
💡 Points
Would I take this forward? A conserved channel with atrial-skewed expression is a reasonable start, but expression isn't native current, and ketodoxapram, a doxapram derivative, isn't a clean probe. Before crediting any rhythm effect to TASK1, I'd want its selectivity against other K2P and cardiac channels. With the in vivo readout cut off, the horse-as-AF-model case stays open.