Lifting the Fog over Mitochondrial Chloride Channels

Abstract

The current through mitochondrial chloride channels was first described in 1987. Subsequently, several types of ion channels permeable to chloride and other anions were found in the mitochondria of different origins. The increasing number of electrophysi - ological studies, however, yielded only more ambiguity rather than order in the field of chloride channels. This uncertainty was slightly reduced by two different studies: experi - ments that showed a significant role of chloride channels in the process of mitochondrial membrane potential oscillations and experiments that localized chloride intracellular ion channel (CLIC) proteins in cardiac mitochondrial membranes. Our recently published single-channel electrophysiological experiments are well in line with the channel activity of recombinant CLIC proteins. The experimental evidence seems to be inevitably, though slowly converging on a connection between single-channel activity and the identity of the mitochondrial chloride channel protein.