RESUMO
We have determined the electropharmacological properties of a new potassium channel from brain mitochondrial membrane using a planar lipid bilayer method. Our results show the presence of a channel with a conductance of 150â pS at potentials between 0 and -60â mV in 200â mM cis/50â mM trans KCl solutions. The channel was voltage independent, with an open probability value of approximately 0.6 at different voltages. ATP did not affect current amplitude or open probability at positive and negative voltages. Notably, adding iberiotoxin, charybdotoxin, lidocaine or margatoxin had no effect on the channel behavior. Similarly, no changes were observed by decreasing the cis pH to 6. Interestingly, the channel was inhibited by adding sodium in a dose-dependent manner. Our results also indicated a significant increase in mitochondrial complex IV activity and membrane potential and a decrease in complex I activity and mitochondrial ROS production in the presence of sodium ions. We propose that inhibition of mitochondrial potassium transport by sodium ions on potassium channel opening could be important for cell protection and ATP synthesis.