Fiona Britton, Ph.D.

Title:  Assistant Professor

Contact Information

Mail Stop: 352
Phone: 775-784-6008
e-mail: fbritton@medicine.nevada.edu

Research Interests

Research in my laboratory is concerned with the molecular identification, cloning and characterization of individual genes that encode ion channels and are responsible for ionic currents important for cardiac and smooth muscle contraction.


My research is funded through a NIH NCRR Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant. My research currently focuses on the Bestrophin and CLCA families that may encode calcium-activated chloride channels. We utilize a variety of molecular biology approaches and gene knockout technologies to define physiological roles of these genes and the molecular mechanisms by which they regulate cellular excitability. Immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging, in collaboration with Dr. William Hatton, have determined the spatial localization of these proteins. Whole-cell electrophysiological techniques, in collaboration with Dr. Normand LeBlanc, are used to study the biophysical properties of cloned channels expressed in heterologous systems..


Past projects in collaboration with Dr. Burton Horowitz, have focused on the relationship between ClC channels and native cardiac chloride currents. I have determined the molecular distribution of volume sensitive chloride channels (ClC-2 and ClC-3) in cardiac tissues. Novel ClC-2 splice variants have been identified in cardiac tissue and expression studies on the cloned cDNA, in collaboration with Dr. Dayue Duan has led to the important finding that the inward rectifying chloride current may be encoded by ClC-2 and contribute to the pacemaker conductance in heart. I have also contributed to studies of ATP-coupled chloride channels in cardiac myocytes and performed site directed mutagenesis studies to analyze the regulation of CFTRcardiac and the BK channel by PKC phosphorylation.

Search For Dr. Britton's Publications In PubMed

Lab Members

Martha Baring, Laboratory Technician
Kate O’Driscoll, Ph. D., Postdoctoral Scholar 

Selected Publications

Rossow, C.F.; Wang, GL; Hatton WJ; Britton, F.; Horowitz, B., Hume, J.R A functional role for the amino terminus in ClC-3 channel regulation. Acta Physiol (Oxf);187(1-2):5-19, 2006.

Britton, F., Wang, GL; Huang, Z.M. Ye, L; Horowitz, B., Hume, J.R. and Duan D. Functional Characterization of Novel Alternatively Spliced ClC-2 Chloride channel variants in the Heart. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(27):25871-80, 2005.

Leblanc N, Ledoux J, Saleh S, Sanguinetti A, Angermann J, O’Driscoll K, Britton F, Perrino BA, Greenwood IA. Regulation of Calcium-Activated Chloride Channels in Smooth Muscle Cells - A Complex Picture Is Emerging. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 83: 541–556, 2005.

Britton, F.; Okya, S. Horowitz, B. and Greenwood I.A. Comparison of the properties of CLCA1 generated currents and ICl(Ca) in murine portal vein smooth muscle cells. J.Physiol. (Lond), 539(1), 107-117, 2002.

Britton, F.; Hatton, W. J., Rossow, C. F., Duan, D., Hume, J. R. and Horowitz, B. Molecular distribution of volume-regulated chloride channels (ClC-2 and ClC-3) in cardiac tissues. Am. J. Physiol. 279(5): H2225-33, 2000.

Duan, D.; Ye, L., Britton F., Horowitz, B. and Hume, J. R. A novel anionic inward rectifier in native cardiac myocytes. Circ. Res.86 (4): E63-71, 2000.

Duan, D.; Ye, L., Britton F., Miller, L.J., Yamazaki, J., Horowitz, B. and Hume, J. R. Purinoreceptor-coupled chloride channels in mouse heart: A novel, alternative pathway for CFTR regulation. J.Physiol. (Lond) 521(1): 43-56, 1999.

Yamazaki, J.; Britton, F., Collier, M.L.; Horowitz, B. and Hume, J.R. Regulation of recombinant cardiac CFTR chloride channels by protein kinase C. Biophys J. 76(4): 1972-87, 1999.

Fukao, M.; Mason, H.S., Britton F., Kenyon, J.L., Horowitz, B. and Keef, K.D. Cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase activates cloned BKCa channels expressed in mammalian cells by direct phosphorylation at serine 1072. J Biol Chem, 274(16):10927-35, 1999.