This study elucidates the intracellular signaling pathway by which platelet-activating factor activates cardiac muscarinic potassium channels via arachidonic acid metabolites.
Platelet-activating factor (PAF), added to the bathing solution, stimulated the cardiac muscarinic K+ channel (KACh) in the cell-attached patch (no agonist in the pipette). The PAF-induced KACh channel activation was blocked by WEB2086, a PAF-receptor inhibitor, indicating that the PAF-receptor mediated the response. PAF-induced activation was prevented by nordihydroguaieretic acid, a lipoxygenase inhibitor, and AA-861, a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, but was not affected by indomethacin, a cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor. The PAF-induced KACh channel activity disappeared upon formation of inside-out patch. In this inside-out patch, intracellular GTP alone induced maximal channel reactivation, which was inhibited by GDP-beta S. These results suggest that 5-lipoxygenase metabolites of PAF-released arachidonic acid cause a persistent stimulation of GK but not the KACh channel itself, resulting in a receptor-independent activation of the KACh channel by GTP.
Nakajima et al. (1991) studied this question.