Enhanced Mobilization of Endothelial Ca2+ by SKA‐31 Contributes to the Restoration of Agonist‐mediated Vasorelaxation in Resistance Arteries from Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Abstract

Endothelial dysfunction is a common early pathogenic event in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). In isolated hearts from T2D Goto‐Kakizaki (GK) rats, we have observed that SKA‐31, a positive modulator of the endothelial Ca2+‐activated K+ (KCa) channels KCa2.3 and KCa3.1, increases total coronary flow and restores agonist‐evoked elevations in flow to the levels observed in Wistar control hearts. The goal of the current study was to investigate the cellular mechanisms by which SKA‐31 restores vascular responsiveness in T2D vessels. In cannulated, myogenically active cremaster and cerebral resistance arteries from 24 week old, male T2D GK rats, and small intra‐thoracic arteries from T2D patients, a threshold concentration of SKA‐31 (0.3 μM) enhanced the ability of 0.3 μM acetylcholine and 0.1 μM bradykinin to inhibit developed tone at 70 mmHg. This effect of SKA‐31 was not disrupted by treatment with L‐NAME (0.1 mM) and indomethacin (10 μM), demonstrating that endothelial nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase activities do not contribute to SKA‐31 mediated enhancement of agonist‐evoked vasorelaxation in T2D arteries. Using single cell Fura‐2 fluorescence imaging, we observed that Ca2+ mobilization evoked by the muscarinic agonist carbachol (1 μM) was significantly impaired in acutely isolated endothelial cells from GK arteries compared with Wistar controls and that treatment with 0.3 μM SKA‐31 was able to reverse this defect in response. Ca2+ mobilization evoked by the SERCA inhibitor cyclopiazonic acid (20 μM) was not different in endothelial cells from Wistar and T2D GK arteries, suggesting that the internal Ca2+ store, per se, is not dysfunctional in GK endothelial cells. In summary, we have identified a novel cellular mechanism to restore agonist‐mediated inhibition of myogenic tone in T2D resistance arteries that involves “priming” of endothelial KCa channels by a small molecule activator (e.g. SKA‐31). Our data further reveal that SKA‐31 is able to augment agonist‐evoked Ca2+ mobilization in T2D endothelial cells, which likely contributes to the functional restoration of agonist‐evoked vasorelaxation in T2D arteries.Support or Funding InformationThis study was supported by research funding to APB from the CIHR.