File:Axonal MNTB tracks in the Trapezoid Body of WT CBA mouse brainstem K Bondarenko.jpg

Voltage-gated potassium channels Kv3.1 are highlighted in green (anti-Kv3.1b + AlexaFluor488, 488 nm laser), while axon initial segments and nodes of Ranvier in magenta (anti-AnkyrinG + AlexaFluor647, 639 nm laser). The Kv3 family of voltage-gated potassium channels are important mediators of action potential repolarization. Expression of these channels enables action potentials to be of short-duration and high firing frequency. Thus, Kv3 channels play a critical role in sound processing in the brain. The big green cells at the bottom left part of the image are principal MNTB neurons. MNTB is responsible for sound localization and encoding time characteristics of complex sound, thus highly expressing Kv3.1 channels. Kv3.1 channels are also present in the nodes of Ranvier (bright green “jumpers” on the fibres of the axonal tracks with a slight magenta glow on either side), shown here by co-labelling with Ankyrin G, an intracellular adapter protein involved in the attachment of other proteins to different parts of the cell membrane. We all know that axons are long but often fail to imagine their actual span across the brain on a comprehendible scale. This image was created to highlight the fact that no information is lost while travelling encoded as an electric signal down these long wires from the ear to the centres of sound processing located deep inside the brain, and this accuracy heavily relies on Kv3.1 channels.