Barium reduces resting blood flow and inhibits potassium-induced vasodilation in the human forearm

Increasing extracellular K+ concentration within and just above the physiological range hyperpolarizes and relaxes vascular smooth muscle in vitro. These actions involve inwardly rectifying potassium channels (K(IR)) and Na+/K+ ATPase, which are inhibited, respectively, by Ba2+ and ouabain. The role (if any) of K(IR) in controlling human resistance vessel tone is unknown, and we investigated this in the forearm. Blood flow was measured by plethysmography in healthy men. Drugs and electrolytes were infused through the brachial artery. BaCl2 (4 micromol/min, also used in subsequent experiments) increased Ba2+ plasma concentration in the infused forearm to 50+/-0.8 micromol/L (mean+/-SEM) and reduced blood flow by 24+/-4% (n=8, P