Quantitative analysis of potassium channel mRNA expression in atrial and ventricular muscle of rats

The expression of 15 different potassium channel genes in rat atrial and ventricular muscle was quantitatively compared by use of an RNase protection assay. Of these genes, only five, Kv1.2, Kv1.4, Kv1.5, Kv2.1, and Kv4.2, were expressed at significant levels in cardiac muscle. In comparisons of atrial and ventricular RNA samples, transcripts from the Kv1.2 and Kv4.2 genes showed the largest differences in relative abundance. There was an approximately twofold decrease in total Kv4 subfamily mRNA expression in atrial muscle relative to ventricular muscle and a 70% increase in total Kv1 subfamily mRNA. Variation of potassium channel mRNA expression within the left ventricular wall was also examined. There was a large gradient of Kv4.2 expression across the ventricular wall, and Kv4.2 expression in epicardial muscle was more than eight times higher than in papillary muscle. Other potassium channel genes were expressed at relatively uniform levels across the ventricular wall. The results suggest that transcriptional regulation makes a significant contribution to the control of potassium channel expression in cardiac muscle and to the variation of the electrophysiological phenotype of myocytes from different regions of the myocardium.