Background and purpose: ATP-sensitive K+ channels (K(ATP) channels) play important roles in regulating the resting membrane potential of detrusor smooth muscle. Actions of ZD0947, a novel KATP channel opener, on both carbachol (CCh)-induced detrusor contractions and membrane currents in human urinary bladder myocytes were investigated.
Experimental approach: Tension measurements and patch-clamp techniques were utilized to study the effects of ZD0947 in segments of human urinary bladder. Immunohistochemistry was also performed to detect the expression of the sulphonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) and the SUR2B antigens in human detrusor muscle.
Key results: ZD0947 (> or = 0.1 microM) caused a concentration-dependent relaxation of the CCh-induced contraction of human detrusor, which was reversed by glibenclamide. The rank order of the potency to relax the CCh-induced contraction was pinacidil > ZD0947 > diazoxide. In conventional whole-cell configuration, ZD0947 (> or = 1 microM) caused a concentration-dependent inward K+ current which was suppressed by glibenclamide at -60 mV. When 1 mM ATP was included in the pipette solution, application of pinacidil or ZD0947 caused no inward K+ current at -60 mV. Gliclazide (< or =1 microM), a selective SUR1 blocker, inhibited the ZD0947-induced currents (Ki = 4.0 microM) and the diazoxide-induced currents (high-affinity site, Ki1 = 42.4 nM; low-affinity site, Ki2 = 84.5 microM) at -60 mV. Immunohistochemical studies indicated the presence of SUR1 and SUR2B proteins, which are constituents of KATP channels, in the bundles of human detrusor smooth muscle.
Conclusions and implications: These results suggest that ZD0947 caused a glibenclamide-sensitive detrusor relaxation through activation of glibenclamide-sensitive KATP channels in human urinary bladder.