Ion channels in neuroglial cells.

With the advent of the patch clamp technique, many different types of ion channels have been found in neuroglial cells, including voltage-sensitive ion channels (Na+, Ca2+, K+, and CI- channels), ligand-gated ion channels (glutamate receptor and GABAA receptor), and mechanosensitive ion channels. Most of these ion channels have also been found in excitable cells, and thus excitable and non-excitable cells in the nervous system share a similar repertoire of ion channel gene expression. Various factors, such as different developmental stage or different regions in the brain, are known to influence glial ion channel expression. In addition, glial ion channel expression is influenced by the presence of neurons, suggesting the existence of dynamic mechanism(s) for regulating ion channel expression via cell-to-cell signaling between neurons and glia. In this review, the current understanding of various types of ion channels found in neuroglial cells (i.e., astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and Schwann cells) is summarized.