Ancient medicinal plant rosemary contains a highly efficacious and isoform-selective KCNQ potassium channel opener.

ABSTRACT: Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels in the KCNQ subfamily serve essential roles in the nervous system, heart, muscle and epithelia. Different heteromeric KCNQ complexes likely serve distinct functions in the brain but heteromer subtype-specific small molecules for research or therapy are lacking. Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) is an evergreen plant used medicinally for millennia for neurological and other disorders. Here, we report that rosemary extract is a highly efficacious opener of heteromeric KCNQ3/5 channels, with weak effects on KCNQ2/3. Using functional screening we find that carnosic acid, a phenolic diterpene from rosemary, is a potent, highly efficacious, PIP₂ depletion-resistant KCNQ3 opener with lesser effects on KCNQ5 and none on KCNQ1 or KCNQ2. Carnosic acid is a

SUBMITTER: Manville RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10272180 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature