**5. Conclusions**

Vascular smooth muscle excitability is exquisitely controlled by a repertoire of ion channels, which in themselves, are regulated by several vasoactive agents. The precise regulation of ion channels in vascular smooth muscle cells is essential for the dynamic adjustment of vascular tone necessary to maintain adequate tissue perfusion and blood pressure. Here, we have provided a brief overview of our current knowledge of key ion channels and their regulation by receptor-mediated signaling pathways that are activated by various vasoactive agents to modulate vascular smooth muscle excitability and therefore vascular tone. We focused on several TRP channels, multiple K+ channel subtypes, and various classes of VGCCs. We emphasized ion channel regulation by signaling pathways associated with the Gs/AC/PKA,

**13**

*Ion Channels and Their Regulation in Vascular Smooth Muscle*

NO/sGC/PKG, and Gq/PLC/PKC axes given their important role in modulating vascular smooth muscle excitability. When possible, we identified key gaps in knowledge, even in areas that have been extensively studied, which are fertile ground for further research. Because of the importance of all the ion channels and signaling pathways discussed above on vascular control, understanding how they are affected during pathological conditions is essential for the development of rational therapies

We thank the members of the Navedo Lab for critically reading early versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grants R01HL098200, R01HL121059 and R01HL149127 (to MFN), T32HL086350 (to AUS), and a UC Davis Academic Federation Innovative Development Award (to MN-C).

Arsalan U. Syed, Thanhmai Le, Manuel F. Navedo and Madeline Nieves-Cintrón\* Department of Pharmacology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA,

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: mcnieves@ucdavis.edu

provided the original work is properly cited.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88962*

to treat (micro)vascular diseases.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

None.

**Author details**

United States

*Ion Channels and Their Regulation in Vascular Smooth Muscle DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88962*

NO/sGC/PKG, and Gq/PLC/PKC axes given their important role in modulating vascular smooth muscle excitability. When possible, we identified key gaps in knowledge, even in areas that have been extensively studied, which are fertile ground for further research. Because of the importance of all the ion channels and signaling pathways discussed above on vascular control, understanding how they are affected during pathological conditions is essential for the development of rational therapies to treat (micro)vascular diseases.
