Actions of pinacidil on membrane currents in canine ventricular myocytes and their modulation by intracellular ATP and cAMP

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Abstract
We studied the effects of pinacidil (3–50 μM) on the membrane currents of canine ventricular myocytes, using the whole-cell variant of the patch-clamp technique, and the modulation of these effects by intracellular environment, using the pipette perfusion technique. The following observations were obtained: (1) pinacidil induced a dosedependent outward shift in current at voltages positive to ±70 mV; (2) the pinacidil-induced current was largely timeindependent at voltages positive to ±50 mV and displayed an increase in current fluctuations at more positive voltages, resembling the kinetic properties of current through the ATP-regulated K+ channels; (3) elevating the extracellular potassium concentration ([K+]o) caused a positive shift in the voltage where the pinacidil-induced current crossed the voltage axis and increased the slope conductance of this current; (4) the pinacidil-induced current was reduced by Ba2+ (0.5–1.5 mM) and abolished by intracellular Cs+ (125 mM); (5) glibenclamide reversibly reduced or abolished the pinacidil-induced current; (6) the action of pinacidil was decreased by elevating [ATP] in the pipette solution (from 1 to 10 mM); (7) the action of pinacidil was augmented by adding isoproterenol (1 μM) to the superfusate or adding cAMP (0.1 mM) to the pipette solution; (8) elevating temperature augmented, and accelerated the onset of, pinacidil's action; (9) pinacidil reversibly decreased the Ca2+ -independent transient outward current (Ito1) but augmented the Ca2+ -dependent transient outward current (Ito2). Based on these observations, we reached the following conclusions: (1) the main effect of pinacidil is to increase an outward current through the ATP-regulated K+ channels; (2) pinacidil's action is modulated by an enzymatic reaction.