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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Multi-parameter Measurement of the Permeability Transition Pore Opening in Isolated Mouse Heart Mitochondria
Published on: September 7, 2012
MCC-134, a single pharmacophore, opens surface ATP-sensitive potassium channels, blocks mitochondrial ATP-sensitive
Norihito Sasaki1, Mitsushige Murata, Yiru Guo
1Laboratory of the Institute of Molecular Cardiobiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Background:
MCC-134 (1-[4-(H-imidazol-1-yl)benzoyl]-N-methylcyclobutane-carbothioamide), a newly developed analog of aprikalim, opens surface smooth muscle-type ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels but inhibits pancreatic K(ATP) channels. However, the effects of MCC-134 on cardiac surface K(ATP) channels and mitochondrial K(ATP) (mitoK(ATP)) channels are unknown. A mixed agonist/blocker with differential effects on the two channel types would help to clarify the role of K(ATP) channels in cardioprotection.
Methods And Results:
To index mitoK(ATP) channels, we measured mitochondrial flavoprotein fluorescence in rabbit ventricular myocytes. MCC-134 alone had little effect on basal flavoprotein fluorescence. However, MCC-134 inhibited diazoxide-induced flavoprotein oxidation in a dose-dependent manner (EC(50)=27 micro mol/L). When ATP was included in the pipette solution, MCC-134 slowly activated surface K(ATP) currents with some delay (>10 minutes). These results indicate that MCC-134 is a mitoK(ATP) channel inhibitor and a surface K(ATP) channel opener in native cardiac cells. In cell-pelleting ischemia assays, coapplication of MCC-134 with diazoxide abolished the cardioprotective effect of diazoxide, whereas MCC-134 alone did not alter cell death. These results were reproducible in both rabbit and mouse myocytes. MCC-134 also attenuated the effect of ischemic preconditioning against myocardial infarction in mice, consistent with the results of cell-pelleting ischemia assays.
Conclusions:
A single drug, MCC-134, opens surface K(ATP) channels but blocks mitoK(ATP) channels; the fact that this drug inhibits preconditioning reaffirms the primacy of mitoK(ATP) rather than surface K(ATP), channels in the mechanism of cardioprotection.
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