ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels are well characterized in cardiac, pancreatic and many other muscle cells. In the present study, functional expression of the KATP channel was examined in non-pregnant murine longitudinal myometrium. Isometric contraction measurements and Western blot were used. KATP channel openers (KCOs), such as pinacidil, cromakalim, diazoxide and nicorandil, inhibite...

BACKGROUND Opening of cardiac ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels has emerged as a promising but still controversial cardioprotective mechanism. Defining KATP channel function at the level of recombinant channel proteins is a necessary step toward further evaluation of the cardioprotective significance of this ion conductance. METHODS AND RESULTS KATP channel deficient COS-7 cells were found to ...

ATP-sensitive potassium channels (KATP channels) are critical nutrient sensors in many mammalian tissues. In the pancreas, KATP channels are essential for coupling glucose metabolism to insulin secretion. While orthologous genes for many components of metabolism-secretion coupling in mammals are present in lower vertebrates, their expression, functionality and ultimate impact on body glucose ho...

Brain metabolism can profoundly influence neuronal excitability. Mice with genetic deletion or alteration of Bad (BCL-2 agonist of cell death) exhibit altered brain-cell fuel metabolism, accompanied by resistance to acutely induced epileptic seizures; this seizure protection is mediated by ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels. Here we investigated the effect of BAD manipulation on KATP chann...

The effects of vasoconstrictor-receptor (neuropeptide Y, alpha-adrenergic, serotonergic, histaminergic) stimulation on currents through ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels in arterial smooth muscle cells were examined. Whole-cell KATP currents, activated by the synthetic KATP channel opener pinacidil or by the endogenous vasodilator, calcitonin gene-related peptide, which acts through prote...

Mice with genetic inhibition (AC3-I) of the multifunctional Ca(2+)/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) have improved cardiomyocyte survival after ischemia. Some K(+) currents are up-regulated in AC3-I hearts, but it is unknown if CaMKII inhibition increases the ATP sensitive K(+) current (I(KATP)) that underlies ischemic preconditioning (IP) and confers resistance to ischemia. We hy...

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...

ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP) channels are abundant membrane proteins in cardiac myocytes that are directly gated by intracellular ATP and form a signaling complex with metabolic enzymes, such as creatine kinase. KATP channels are known to be essential for adaption to cardiac stress, such as ischemia; however, how all the molecular components of the stress response interact is not fully understood....

Firth, T. A., G. M. Mawe, and M. T. Nelson. Pharmacology and modulation of KATP channels by protein kinase C and phosphatases in gallbladder smooth muscle. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 278: C1031–C1037, 2000.—ATP-sensitive K1 (KATP) channels exhibit pharmacological diversity, which is critical for the development of novel therapeutic agents. We have characterized KATP channels in gallbladder smoot...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Recent studies have shown that the cerebral arteriolar dilation from hypercapnic acidosis is blocked by agents which inhibit KATP channels. These findings suggested that this response is due to opening of KATP channels. Because the repose to CO2 is a continuum, with hypercapnic acidosis causing vasodilation and hypocapnic alkalosis causing vasoconstriction, it would be ex...