사람 정관의 Maxi-K 통로 활성화에 미치는 성호르몬의 효과

초록

Purpose: We investigated the effects of sex steroids on the maxi-K channel activities of the single smooth muscle cells of the human vas deferens. Materials and methods: Human vas deferens cells were isolated using proteolytic enzymes (collagense and papain), and then they were employed for an electrophysiological study with using the inside-out patch clamp configurations. The intracellular calcium concentrations were adjusted between 0.1 μM to 1 μM, and the membrane potentials were depolarized. Results: The maxi-K channels were identified by their single channel conductance and calcium dependency. The application of 1Ong/dl estrogen induced a significant increment of the maxi-K channel activities. The effects were not affected by the change of the intracellular calcium concentration. The other sex steroids (progesterone and testosterone) rarely affected the maxi-K channel activities. Conclusions: Estrogen has stimulatory effects on the maxi-K channel activity of human vas deferens. This suggests that estrogen may relax the human vas deferens via maxi-K channel activation.

키워드