The cardiovascular system operates under a wide scale of demands, ranging from conditions of rest to extreme stress. How the heart muscle matches rates of ATP production with utilization is an area of active investigation. ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels serve a critical role in the orchestration of myocardial energetic well-being. K(ATP) channel heteromultimers consist of inwardly-re...

Dr. Grover’s very kind and complimentary remarks about the recent review [l] on ATP-sensitive potassium channel openers during ischemia and reperfusion are much appreciated. One point, however, causes Dr. Grover considerable concern-this is the citation of (and by implication a presumed agreement with) the comments in the paper by Richer et al. [2]. This paper was critical of the conclusions of...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite are capable of generating hydroxyl radical and are commonly suspected as sources of this radical in tissues. It would be useful to distinguish the source of hydroxyl radical in pathophysiological conditions and to clarify the mechanisms by which antioxidants modify vascular actions of oxidants. METHODS We investigated the effect of th...

ATP-sensitive potassium channels (KATP) couple intracellular ATP levels with membrane excitability. These channels play crucial roles in many essential physiological processes and have been implicated extensively in a spectrum of metabolic diseases and disorders. To gain insight into the mechanism of KATP, we elucidated the structure of a hetero-octameric pancreatic KATP channel in complex with...

K(ATP) channels (ATP-sensitive potassium channels), comprising four subunits each of Kir6.2 (inwardly rectifying potassium channel 6.2) and the SUR1 (sulfonylurea receptor 1), play a central role in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by the pancreatic beta-cell. Changes in the number of channels at the cell surface are associated with genetic diseases of aberrant insulin secretion, including ...

BACKGROUND In brain blood vessels, electrophysiological studies proving the existence of ATP-sensitive potassium channels (KATP) are scarce. However, numerous pharmacological studies establish the importance of KATP channels in these blood vessels. This review emphasizes the data supporting the importance of vascular KATP in the responses of brain blood vessels. SUMMARY OF REVIEW Electrophysi...

ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels couple cellular metabolic status to changes in membrane electrical properties. Caffeine (1,2,7-trimethylxanthine) has been shown to inhibit several ion channels; however, how caffeine regulates K(ATP) channels was not well understood. By performing single-channel recordings in the cell-attached configuration, we found that bath application of caffeine s...

The ATP-dependent potassium channels (KATP channels) were originally identified in isolated membrane patches prepared from guinea pig ventricular myocytes by Noma in 1983. Since their discovery in cardiac cells, KATP channels have also been discovered in many other tissues, such as smooth muscle, skeletal muscle, pancreas, and brain, in which they have been shown to couple cellular metabolism t...

We investigated the mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel [mito-K (ATP)] in exercise preconditioning of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Eighty SD rats were randomly divided into high-, moderate-, low-intensity, and control groups. The exercise groups were divided into control and inhibited groups. The control group was divided into model and sham groups. Eight rats were ...

Cell-attached and inside-out excised-patch recording techniques were used to search for mechanosensitive ion channels in neonatal and adult rat atrial myocytes. A channel activated by negative pressure applied to the patch, with a single-channel conductance of 52 pS in symmetric potassium solutions, was frequently observed. This channel has been identified as the atrial ATP-sensitive potassium ...