Although ischemic preconditioning induces bioenergetic tolerance and thereby remodels energy metabolism that is crucial for postischemic recovery of the heart, the molecular components associated with preservation of cellular energy production, transfer, and utilization are not fully understood. Here myocardial bioenergetic dynamics were assessed by 18 O-assisted 31 P-NMR spectroscopy in control or preconditioned hearts from wild-type (WT) or Kir6. In contrast with WT hearts, preconditioning failed to preserve contractile recovery in Kir6.2-KO hearts, as tight coupling between postischemic performance and high-energy phosphoryl transfer was compromised in the KATP-channel-deficient myocardium. Thus intact KATP channels are integral in ischemic preconditioning-induced protection of cellular energetic dynamics and associated cardiac performance.ATP-sensitive K ϩ channel; cardioprotection; ischemia; metabolism ATP-SENSITIVE K ϩ (K ATP ) channels, which are highly expressed in myocardial sarcolemma, serve as membrane metabolic sensors that translate fluctuations in cellular energetics into regulation of electrical activity (1, 24,25,40). Nucleotide-dependent K ϩ permeation through Kir6.2, the inwardly rectifying pore-forming core of the K ATP channel, is gated by ATPase activity of the regulatory subunit SUR2A integrated with cellular metabolism through phosphotransfer networks (1, 2, 4, 13, 33, 42). This metabolic sensor function is underscored in response to ischemic challenge, where sarcolemmal K ATP channels have been proposed to respond to changes in cellular energetics that regulate ionic homeostasis (1,5,11,15, 24,25).In fact, Kir6.2-knockout (Kir6.2-KO) hearts, which lack functional K ATP channels, display a compromised ability to regulate electrical activity with loss of characteristic ST-segment elevation on the ECG during ischemia and poor contractile recovery (19,35). Furthermore, intact sarcolemmal K ATP channel function contributes to the reduction of infarct size afforded by ischemic preconditioning (IPC) (35), a cardioprotective phenomenon by which brief intermittent periods of ischemia protect the myocardium against a prolonged ischemic insult (21). Essential in the IPC-induced injury-tolerant state is the remodeling of energy transduction and cellular phosphotransfer networks, which results in maintained bioenergetic homeostasis and improved contractile recovery (10,22,26,29). Metabolic flux through creatine kinase, the major phosphotransfer enzyme in the myocardium and integrator of cellular metabolism with K ATP channels (1, 31), tightly correlates with cardioprotection of preconditioning (26). Although this correlation suggests a relationship between metabolic sensor activity and preservation of energetic homeostasis, it remains unexplored whether cardiac K ATP channels are required for IPC-mediated protection of cellular bioenergetics.Here,
18O-assisted 31 P-NMR spectroscopy captures bioenergetic dynamics in hearts from wild-type (WT) and Kir6.2-KO mice. Deletion of sarcolemmal K ATP channels ...