Quantitative analysis of the Ca2+ -dependent regulation of delayed rectifier K+ current IKs in rabbit ventricular myocytes.

KEY POINTS: [Ca2+ ]i enhanced rabbit ventricular slowly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKs ) by negatively shifting the voltage dependence of activation and slowing deactivation, similar to perfusion of isoproterenol. Rabbit ventricular rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKr ) amplitude and voltage dependence were unaffected by high [Ca2+ ]i . When measuring or simulating IKs during an action potential, IKs was not different during a physiological Ca2+ transient or when [Ca2+ ]i was buffered to 500 nm. ABSTRACT: The slowly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKs ) contributes to repolarization of the cardiac action potential (AP). Intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+ ]i ) and β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) stimulation modulate IKs amplitude and kinetics, but details of these important IKs regulators and their interaction are limited. We assessed the [Ca2+ ]i dependence of IKs in steady-state conditions and with dynamically changing membrane potential and [Ca2+ ]i during an AP. IKs was recorded from freshly isolated rabbit ventricular myocytes using whole-cell patch clamp. With intracellular pipette solutions that controlled free [Ca2+ ]i , we found that raising [Ca2+ ]i from 100 to 600 nm produced similar increases in IKs as did β-AR activation, and the effects appeared additive. Both β-AR activation and high [Ca2+ ]i increased maximally activated tail IKs , negatively shifted the voltage dependence of activation, and slowed deactivation kinetics. These data informed changes in our well-established mathematical model of the rabbit myocyte. In both AP-clamp experiments and simulations, IKs recorded during a normal physiological Ca2+ transient was similar to IKs measured with [Ca2+ ]i clamped at 500-600 nm. Thus, our study provides novel quantitative data as to how physiological [Ca2+ ]i regulates IKs amplitude and kinetics during the normal rabbit AP. Our results suggest that micromolar [Ca2+ ]i , in the submembrane or junctional cleft space, is not required to maximize [Ca2+ ]i -dependent IKs activation during normal Ca2+ transients.