Ion Channels and Neurological Disease

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue in Life on the topic "Ion Channels and Neurological Disease".

Ion channels are key elements in the control of membrane physiology and neurotransmission as ionic fluxes assure the neuronal signal propagation across and between neurons through synaptic transmission. Pathophysiology of ion channels may originate from either mutations of gene-encoding components of the channel structure (channelopathy) or secondary dysfunctions—both conditions affect intrinsic excitability in the cell and synaptic functions leading to pathophysiological signs of diseases. Most of the currently known neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) report alterations in neuronal excitability due to dysfunction of molecular and/or functional features in ion channels. In the majority of NDDs, the pathogenic role of ion channels has been widely demonstrated either for channelopathies or secondary dysfunction. Nevertheless, the link between ion channel alterations underlying neuronal excitability and disease onset has been neglected in some disorders, while for others, research is increasing rapidly.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide new achievements in the research on pathophysiological changes and structural altered phenotypes in ion channel misfunction. A particular interest could be addressed to drug screening and targeting in order to propose putative therapeutic avenues (including also nutraceutics and/or ethnopharmacology) that can be developed to treat or alleviate these incurable diseases. Multi- and inter-disciplinary research contributions, possibly combining structural, functional, and pharmacological approaches with different methods/techniques, including clinical ones, will be greatly appreciated.

Dr. Carlo Musio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.