The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2025/26: Ion channels

Stephen P H Alexander¹, Jörg Striessnig², Alasdair J Gibb³, Alistair A Mathie⁴, Emma L Veale⁵, Eamonn Kelly⁶, Chloe J Peach⁷, Jane F Armstrong⁸, Elena Faccenda⁸, Simon D Harding⁸, Christopher Southan⁸, Jamie A Davies⁸, Richard W Aldrich⁸, Bernard Attali⁹, Austin M Baggetta¹⁰, Elvir Becirovic¹¹, David J Beech¹², Martin Biel¹¹, Roslyn M Bill¹³, Ana I Caceres¹⁴, William A Catterall¹⁵, Han Chow Chua¹⁶, Alex C Conner¹⁷, Henry Danahay¹⁸, Paul Davies¹⁹, Katrien De Clerq²⁰, Markus Delling²¹, Francesco Di Virgilio²², Simonetta Falzoni²², Wei Fang²³, Stefanie Fenske¹¹, Anna Fortuny-Gomez²⁴, Samuel Fountain²⁴, George K Chandy²⁵, Mohammad-Reza Ghovanloo²⁶, Steve A N Goldstein²⁷, Martin Gosling¹⁸, Christian Grimm¹¹, Stephan Grissmer²⁸, Kotdaji Ha²¹, Tim G Hales²⁹, Verena Hammelmann¹¹, Israel Hanukoglu²³, Meiqin Hu³⁰, Ad P Ijzerman³¹, Sairam V Jabba¹⁴, Mike Jarvis³², Anders A Jensen³³, Sven E Jordt¹⁴, Leonard K Kaczmarek³⁴, Stephan Kellenberger³⁵, Charles Kennedy³⁶, Brian King³⁷, Philip Kitchen¹³, Qiang Liu³⁰, Joseph W Lynch³⁸, Rian W Manville²⁷, Jessica Meades²⁴, Verena Mehlfeld¹¹, Annette Nicke¹¹, Stefan Offermanns³⁹, Edward Pérez-Reyes⁴⁰, Leigh D Plant¹⁰, Stephan A Pless³³, Lachlan D Rash³⁸, Dejian Ren⁴¹, Hussein N Rubaiy⁴², Mootaz M Salman⁴³, Werner Sieghart⁴⁴, Lucia G Sivilotti³⁷, Trevor G Smart³⁷, Terrance P Snutch⁴⁵, Paolo Tammaro⁴³, Jinbin Tian⁴⁶, James S Trimmer⁴⁷, Charlotte Van den Eynde²⁰, Paola Vergani⁴⁸, Joris Vriens²⁰, Stephen G Waxman³⁴, Aguan D Wei¹⁵, Brenda T Winn¹⁰, Heike Wulff⁴⁷, Haoxing Xu⁴⁹, Fan Yang³⁰, Lixia Yue⁵⁰, Xiaoli Zhang⁴⁹, Michael Zhu⁴⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
² Pharmacology and Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, A-6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
³ Research Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, Division of Biosciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, W1W 6UW, UK.
⁵ Medway School of Pharmacy, Universities of Kent and Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK.
⁶ School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK.
⁷ Division of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE), University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK, 8Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK.
⁸ Stanford University, Austin, USA.
⁹ Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
¹⁰ Northeastern University, Boston, USA.
¹¹ Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹² University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
¹³ Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁴ Duke University, Durham, USA.
¹⁵ University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
¹⁶ University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
¹⁷ University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁸ University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
¹⁹ Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA.
²⁰ Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
²¹ University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
²² University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
²³ Ariel University, Jerusalem, Israel.
²⁴ University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
²⁵ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
²⁶ Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
²⁷ University of California Irvine, Irvine, USA.
²⁸ Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
²⁹ University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³⁰ Liangzhu Laboratory & Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³¹ Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
³² University of Illinois, Chicago, USA.
³³ University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³⁴ Yale University, New Haven, USA.
³⁵ University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁶ Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK.
³⁷ University College London, London, UK.
³⁸ University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
³⁹ Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research/JW Goethe University, Bad Nauheim/Frankfurt, Germany.
⁴⁰ University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.
⁴¹ University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
⁴² Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴³ University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴⁴ Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁴⁵ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁴⁶ University of Texas at Houston, Houston, USA.
⁴⁷ University of California Davis, Davis, USA.
⁴⁸ Imperial College, London, UK.
⁴⁹ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
⁵⁰ University of Connecticut, Farmington, USA.

PMID: 41461580
DOI: 10.1111/bph.70231

Review

The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2025/26: Ion channels

Stephen P H Alexander et al. Br J Pharmacol. 2025 Dec.

. 2025 Dec:182 Suppl 1:S152-S241.

doi: 10.1111/bph.70231.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
² Pharmacology and Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, A-6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
³ Research Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, Division of Biosciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, W1W 6UW, UK.
⁵ Medway School of Pharmacy, Universities of Kent and Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK.
⁶ School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK.
⁷ Division of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE), University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK, 8Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK.
⁸ Stanford University, Austin, USA.
⁹ Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
¹⁰ Northeastern University, Boston, USA.
¹¹ Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹² University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
¹³ Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁴ Duke University, Durham, USA.
¹⁵ University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
¹⁶ University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
¹⁷ University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁸ University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
¹⁹ Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA.
²⁰ Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
²¹ University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
²² University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
²³ Ariel University, Jerusalem, Israel.
²⁴ University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
²⁵ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
²⁶ Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
²⁷ University of California Irvine, Irvine, USA.
²⁸ Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
²⁹ University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³⁰ Liangzhu Laboratory & Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³¹ Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
³² University of Illinois, Chicago, USA.
³³ University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³⁴ Yale University, New Haven, USA.
³⁵ University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁶ Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK.
³⁷ University College London, London, UK.
³⁸ University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
³⁹ Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research/JW Goethe University, Bad Nauheim/Frankfurt, Germany.
⁴⁰ University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.
⁴¹ University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
⁴² Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴³ University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴⁴ Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁴⁵ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁴⁶ University of Texas at Houston, Houston, USA.
⁴⁷ University of California Davis, Davis, USA.
⁴⁸ Imperial College, London, UK.
⁴⁹ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
⁵⁰ University of Connecticut, Farmington, USA.

PMID: 41461580
DOI: 10.1111/bph.70231

Abstract

The Concise Guide to Pharmacology 2025/26 marks the seventh edition in this series of biennial publications in the British Journal of Pharmacology. Presented in landscape format, the guide provides a comparative overview of the pharmacology of drug target families. The concise nature of the Concise Guide refers to the style of presentation, being clear, accessible, and well-structured, rather than the scope of the content, which spans approximately 500 pages. The Concise Guide summarises the key pharmacological properties of around 1900 human drug targets, and nearly 7000 interactions, involving around 4400 ligands. While the content is a substantially condensed version of the more detailed information and links available at the www.guidetopharmacology.org website, the printed guide serves as a permanent, citable, point-in-time record, that remains stable despite ongoing updates to the online database. The full contents of this publication can be found at https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.70231. The Concise Guides provide expert-curated recommendations of 'Gold Standard' selective pharmacological tools, available either commercially or as donations, which enable the identification of individual drug targets or families of drug targets. While the Concise Guide offers a more streamlined overview, more comprehensive information, including detailed pharmacological profiles and links to multiple online databases, is available through the Guide to Pharmacology website. The 2025/26 edition of the Concise Guide is based on material current as of mid-2025, and supersedes all previous editions, including the 2023/24 Guide, and earlier Guides to Receptors and Channels. It is produced in close conjunction with the Nomenclature and Standards Committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (NC-IUPHAR), and as such provides official IUPHAR classification and nomenclature for human drug targets, where applicable. Ion channels are one of the six major pharmacological targets into which the Guide is divided, with the others being: G protein-coupled receptors, nuclear hormone receptors, catalytic receptors, enzymes and transporters. Each section includes nomenclature guidance, concise summaries, information of the best available pharmacological tools, key references, and suggestions for further reading.

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The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2025/26: Ion channels

Affiliations

The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2025/26: Ion channels

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources