Mechanism of thyrotoxic periodic paralysis

Abstract

The pathogenesis of thyrotoxic periodic paralysis has long been thought related to increasedNa+-K+ ATPase activity stimulated by thyroid hormone and/or hyperadrenergic activity and hyperinsulinemia. This mechanism alone, however, cannot adequately explain how hypokalemia occurs during acute attacks or the associated paradoxical depolarization of the resting membrane potential. Recent findings that loss of function mutations of the skeletal muscle-specific inward rectifying K+ (Kir) channel, Kir2.6, associatewith thyrotoxicperiodicparalysisprovide newinsights intohowreduced outwardK+ efflux in skeletal muscle, from either channel mutations or inhibition by hormones (adrenalin or insulin), can lead to a vicious cycle of hypokalemia and paradoxical depolarization, which in turn, inactivates Na + channels and causes muscle unexcitability and paralysis. Copyright © 2012 by the American Society of Nephrology.