Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir6.1 , Kir6.2

Title: Sulphonylurea receptor 2B and Kir6.1 form a sulphonylurea-sensitive but ATP-insensitive K+ channel.

Authors: M Yamada, S Isomoto, S Matsumoto, C Kondo, T Shindo, Y Horio, Y Kurachi

Journal, date & volume: J. Physiol. (Lond.), 1997 Mar 15 , 499 ( Pt 3), 715-20

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9130167

Abstract
1. We analysed the K+ channel composed of the sulphonylurea receptor 2B (SUR2B) and an inwardly rectifying K+ channel subunit Kir6.1 coexpressed in a mammalian cell line, HEK293T, with the patch clamp technique. 2. In the cell-attached configuration, K+ channel openers (pinacidil and nicorandil) activated approximately 33 pS K+ channels (approximately 145 mM external K+), which were inhibited by the sulphonylurea glibenclamide. 3. Although SUR2B forms an ATP-sensitive K+ channel with Kir6.2, whose amino acid sequence is approximately 70% homologous with that of Kir6.1, the K+ channel composed of SUR2B and Kir6.1 surprisingly did not spontaneously open on patch excision in the absence of intracellular ATP. 4. In inside-out patches, uridine diphosphate and guanosine diphosphate induced channel activity, which was inhibited by glibenclamide but not ATP. Intracellular ATP on its own activated the channels. K+ channel openers and intracellular nucleotides synergistically activated the channel. 5. Therefore, the K+ channel composed of SUR2B and Kir6.1 is not a classical ATP-sensitive K+ channel but closely resembles the nucleotide diphosphate-dependent K+ channel in vascular smooth muscle cells.