Modulation of the effect of glibenclamide on KATP channels by ATP and ADP

The inside-out configuration of the patch-clamp technique was used to study the effect of glibenclamide on the ATP-sensitive K+ channel current in isolated guinea-pig ventricular myocytes. The inhibitory effect of glibenclamide was tested in the bath solution containing two different concentrations of ATP (100 microM and 200 microM). It was found that the effect of the drug on the KATP current was stronger in the presence of the higher concentration of ATP. The blocking effect of glibenclamide on the channels was weaker if, in addition to ATP, ADP was applied in the intracellular solution. Similarly, the inhibitory effect of the drug was not pronounced for the channels reactivated by ADP after run-down. As application of the drug in the presence and absence of Mg2+ did not show different effects on the channel inhibition, we concluded that the effect of glibenclamide may not depend on the phosphorylation of the channel protein. These results suggest that in addition of the previously described effect of ADP, ATP also has some modulatory effect on inhibition of the KATP channel by glibenclamide.