Tübingen Researchers Find a Scorpion-Toxin Peptide That Blocks One Potassium Channel Has Little Effect on Real Neurons
Neurologists at the University of Tübingen's Hertie Institute reported in Frontiers in Pharmacology on October 13, 2026 that BMK86-P1, a synthetic scorpion-toxin peptide, selectively blocked Kv1.2 potassium channels made only of Kv1.2 units in cells but barely affected channels mixed with Kv1.1, the form common in the brain. In mouse neurons it produced little change in firing or synaptic activity. The authors, who study gene variants in these channels that cause epilepsy, said the work shows the limits of using such toxins as precise research tools.