ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 20 September 2017 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00660
Small and Intermediate Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel Openers Improve Rat Endothelial and Erectile Function Simon G. Comerma-Steffensen 1, 2*, Ingrid Carvacho 1, 3 , Elise R. Hedegaard 1 and Ulf Simonsen 1 1
Department of Biomedicine, Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, 2 Animal Physiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Sciences Faculty, Central University of Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela, 3 Department of Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
Edited by: Rachel Tribe, King’s College London, United Kingdom Reviewed by: Philip Aaronson, King’s College London, United Kingdom José Ramón López-López, University of Valladolid, Spain *Correspondence: Simon G. Comerma-Steffensen [email protected] Specialty section: This article was submitted to Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology Received: 12 May 2017 Accepted: 05 September 2017 Published: 20 September 2017 Citation: Comerma-Steffensen SG, Carvacho I, Hedegaard ER and Simonsen U (2017) Small and Intermediate Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel Openers Improve Rat Endothelial and Erectile Function. Front. Pharmacol. 8:660. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00660
Modulation of endothelial calcium-activated potassium (KCa ) channels has been proposed as an approach to restore endothelial function. The present study investigated whether novel openers of KCa channels with small (KCa 2.x) and intermediate (KCa 3.1) conductance, NS309 and NS4591, improve endothelium-dependent relaxation and erectile function. Rat corpus cavernosum (CC) strips were mounted for isometric tension recording and processed for immunoblotting. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), intracavernosal pressure (ICP), and electrocardiographic (ECG) measurements were conducted in anesthetized rats. Immunoblotting revealed the presence of KCa 2.3 and large KCa conductance (KCa 1.1) channels in the corpus cavernosum. NS309 and NS4591 increased current in CC endothelial cells in whole cell patch clamp experiments. Relaxation induced by NS309 (
Small and Intermediate Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel Openers Improve Rat Endothelial and Erectile Function Simon G. Comerma-Steffensen 1, 2*, Ingrid Carvacho 1, 3 , Elise R. Hedegaard 1 and Ulf Simonsen 1 1
Department of Biomedicine, Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, 2 Animal Physiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Sciences Faculty, Central University of Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela, 3 Department of Biology and Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
Edited by: Rachel Tribe, King’s College London, United Kingdom Reviewed by: Philip Aaronson, King’s College London, United Kingdom José Ramón López-López, University of Valladolid, Spain *Correspondence: Simon G. Comerma-Steffensen [email protected] Specialty section: This article was submitted to Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology Received: 12 May 2017 Accepted: 05 September 2017 Published: 20 September 2017 Citation: Comerma-Steffensen SG, Carvacho I, Hedegaard ER and Simonsen U (2017) Small and Intermediate Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel Openers Improve Rat Endothelial and Erectile Function. Front. Pharmacol. 8:660. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00660
Modulation of endothelial calcium-activated potassium (KCa ) channels has been proposed as an approach to restore endothelial function. The present study investigated whether novel openers of KCa channels with small (KCa 2.x) and intermediate (KCa 3.1) conductance, NS309 and NS4591, improve endothelium-dependent relaxation and erectile function. Rat corpus cavernosum (CC) strips were mounted for isometric tension recording and processed for immunoblotting. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), intracavernosal pressure (ICP), and electrocardiographic (ECG) measurements were conducted in anesthetized rats. Immunoblotting revealed the presence of KCa 2.3 and large KCa conductance (KCa 1.1) channels in the corpus cavernosum. NS309 and NS4591 increased current in CC endothelial cells in whole cell patch clamp experiments. Relaxation induced by NS309 (
