β-Adrenoceptor activation and PKA regulate delayed rectifier K + channels of vascular smooth muscle cells

Macroscopic 4-aminopyridine (4-AP)-sensitive, delayed rectifier K current of vascular smooth muscle cells is increased during β-adrenoceptor activation with isoproterenol via a signal transduction pathway involving adenylyl cyclase and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) (Aiello, E. A., M. P. Walsh, and W. C. Cole. Am. J. Physiol. 268 ( Heart Circ. Physiol. 37): H926-H934, 1995.). In this study, we identified the single delayed rectifier K (K ) channel(s) of rabbit portal vein myocytes affected by treatment with isoproterenol or the catalytic subunit of PKA. 4-AP-sensitive K channels of 15.3 ± 0.6 pS ( n = 5) and 14.8 ± 0.6 pS ( n = 5) conductance, respectively, were observed in inside-out (I-O) and cell-attached (C-A) membrane patches in symmetrical KCl recording conditions. The kinetics of activation (time constant of 10.7 ± 3.02 ms) and inactivation (fast and slow time constants of 0.3 and 2.5 s, respectively) of ensemble currents produced by these channels mimicked those reported for inactivating, 4-AP-sensitive whole cell K current of vascular myocytes. Under control conditions, the open probability ( NP ) of K channels of C-A membrane patches at -40 mV was 0.014 ± 0.005 ( n = 8). Treatment with 1 μM isoproterenol caused a significant, approximately threefold increase in NP to 0.041 ± 0.02 ( P < 0.05). K channels of I-O patches exhibited rundown after ∼5 min, which was not affected by ATP (5 mM) in the bath solution. Treatment with the purified catalytic subunit of PKA (50 nM; 5 mM ATP) restored K channel activity and caused NP to increase from 0.011 ± 0.003 to 0.138 ± 0.03 ( P < 0.05; n = 11). These data indicate that small-conductance, 15-pS K channels are responsible for inactivating the macroscopic delayed rectifier K current of rabbit portal vein myocytes and that the activity of these channels is enhanced by a signal transduction mechanism involving β-adrenoceptors and phosphorylation by PKA at a membrane potential consistent with that observed in the myocytes in situ.