The M-current (I M ), comprised of Kv7 channels, is a voltage-activated K ϩ conductance that plays a key role in the control of cell excitability. In hippocampal principal cells, I M controls action potential (AP) accommodation and contributes to the medium-duration afterhyperpolarization, but the role of I M in control of interneuron excitability remains unclear. Here, we investigated I M in hippocampal stratum oriens (SO) interneurons, both from wild-type and transgenic mice in which green fluorescent protein (GFP) was expressed in somatostatin-containing interneurons. Somatodendritic expression of Kv7.2 or Kv7.3 subunits was colocalized in a subset of GFPϩ SO interneurons, corresponding to oriens-lacunosum moleculare (O-LM) cells. Under voltage clamp (VC) conditions at Ϫ30 mV, the Kv7 channel antagonists linopirdine/XE-991 abolished the I M amplitude present during relaxation from Ϫ30 to Ϫ50 mV and reduced the holding current (I hold ). In addition, 0.5 mM tetraethylammonium reduced I M , suggesting that I M was composed of Kv7.2-containing channels. In contrast, the Kv7 channel opener retigabine increased I M amplitude and I hold . When strongly depolarized in VC, the linopirdine-sensitive outward current activated rapidly and comprised up to 20% of the total current. In current-clamp recordings from GFPϩ SO cells, linopirdine induced depolarization and increased AP frequency, whereas retigabine induced hyperpolarization and arrested firing. In multicompartment O-LM interneuron models that incorporated I M , somatodendritic placement of Kv7 channels best reproduced experimentally measured I M . The models suggest that Kv3-and Kv7-mediated channels both rapidly activate during single APs; however, Kv3 channels control rapid repolarization of the AP, whereas Kv7 channels primarily control the interspike interval.