“…The existence of splice variants of the GIRK1 and GIRK2 subunits contributes to the molecular diversity of GIRK channels (Wei et al, 1998;Zhu et al, 2001). Several splice variants of GIRK1 have been described; however, there is limited knowledge about the expression and functional roles of these isoforms (Nelson, Marino, & Allen, 1997;Steinecker, Rosker, & Schreibmayer, 2007;Wagner et al, 2010;Zhu et al, 2001). A number of splice variants of GIRK2 have been identified (Isomoto, Kondo, & Kurachi, 1997;Lesage et al, 1994Lesage et al, , 1995Wei et al, 1998), and three of these isoforms (GIRK2a, GIRK2b, and GIRK2c) are widely expressed in the brain (Isomoto et al, 1997;Wei et al, 1998).…”