Gastrointestinal prokinetic drugs have different affinity for the human cardiac human ether-à-gogo K(+) channel.

Agonists of the serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 (5-HT4) receptor are widely used to activate motility in the gastrointestinal tract. Among these, cisapride was recently withdrawn from the U.S. market because of its proarrhythmic effects. Cisapride is a potent blocker of human ether-à-gogo (HERG) K(+) channels and prolongs the cardiac action potential in a reverse use dependence manner. We compared the effects of four different 5-HT4 receptor agonists (cisapride, prucalopride, renzapride and mosapride) on cloned HERG channels with the objective to evaluate and compare their proarrhythmic potential. K(+) currents from HERG-transfected COS-7 cells were recorded under physiological conditions using the whole cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Short (500 ms) depolarizing prepulses were used and following deactivating HERG currents were measured. Cisapride inhibited the HERG channels in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC(50) of 2.4 10(-7) M. The IC(50) value for prucalopride to block HERG (5.7 10(-6) M) was 20-fold higher than that of cisapride. Renzapride was slightly more potent than prucalopride (IC(50) = 1.8 10(-6) M). Mosapride produced no significant effects on the recombinant HERG current. The voltage dependence of HERG block was also investigated. The block mediated by cisapride or renzapride was voltage-dependent whereas that produced by prucalopride was not. We conclude that the rank order of potency of 5-HT4 agonists to block HERG is cisapride > renzapride > prucalopride > mosapride. We also conclude that 5-HT4 agonists devoid of side effects on the HERG current such as mosapride can be found as a safe alternative to cisapride.