Peripheral channelopathies as targets for potassium channel openers

Potassium channel openers (KCOs) are important tools that are often used to gain a greater understanding of K+ channels. Agents that can induce or maintain the opening of K+ channels also offer a therapeutic approach to controlling of cell excitability and offer a means of producing stability in biological systems. The pathogenesis of a broad range of peripheral disorders (e.g., LQT syndrome, hypokalemic periodic paralysis, hyperinsulinism in infancy and erectile dysfunction) are associated with dysfunctional K+ channels due to mutations in genes encoding channel proteins. The therapeutic potential of KCOs in peripheral K+ channelopathies is discussed. The identification of K+ channel subtype-specific openers offers discrete modulation of cellular systems creating a realistic therapeutic advance in the treatment of K+ channelopathies.