C. Forestier et al., INTRACELLULAR PROTONS CONTROL THE AFFINITY OF SKELETAL-MUSCLE ATP-SENSITIVE K-CHANNEL-OPENERS( CHANNELS FOR POTASSIUM), FEBS letters, 325(3), 1993, pp. 276-280
Levcromakalim, a potential antihypertensive agent, is known to activat
e potassium channels dependent on intracellular ATP (K-ATP channels).
In inside-out patches excised from frog skeletal muscle, levcromakalim
or a related compound, SR 47063, caused a strong and persistent activ
ation of K-ATP channels at a cytoplasmic pH of 7.1. However, at pH 6,
these activators could no longer affect the K-ATP currents. Conversely
, in the continuous presence of activator, lowering pH from 7.1 to 6 r
eturned channel activity to its level in pH 6 alone. After wash-out of
the activator, recovery from activation took minutes at pH 7.1 but on
ly seconds at pH 6, thus ruling out an effect of protons on the activa
tors in solution. These experiments suggest that K-channel-activators
are unable to bind to their receptor when it is protonated, and more g
enerally, they provide evidence at the microscopic level for proton-in
duced allosteric modulation of drug-receptor interaction.