Acute inhibition of hERG K+ channel by the antipsychotic drug fluphenazine

37th Congress of IUPS (Birmingham, UK) (2013) Proc 37th IUPS, PCC362

Poster Communications: Acute inhibition of hERG K+ channel by the antipsychotic drug fluphenazine

B. Lee1, S. Jo1, M. Park1

1. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, Korea, Republic of.

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Fluphenazine is a potent antipsychotic drug that can increase action potential duration and induce QT prolongation in several animal models. Since block of cardiac human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) channels is one of leading causes of acquired long QT syndrome, we investigated the acute effects of fluphenazine on hERG channels to determine the electrophysiological basis for its proarrhythmic potential. We examined the effects of fluphenazine on the hERG channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes using two-microelectrode voltage-clamp techniques. Fluphenazine induced a concentration-dependent decrease of the current amplitude at the end of the voltage steps and hERG tail currents. The IC50 of fluphenazine-dependent hERG block in Xenopus oocytes increased progressively relative to the degree of depolarization. Fluphenazine affected the channels in the activated and inactivated states but not in the closed states. The S6 domain mutation Y652A attenuated the hERG current block. The IC50 value of fluphenazine-dependent hERG block increased from 13.3 μΜ to 89.0 μΜ by the mutation from tyrosine to alanine at 652 amino acid of the channel. These results suggest that the antipsychotic drug, fluphenazine is a blocker of the hERG channels, providing a molecular mechanism for the drug-induced arrhythmogenic side effects.



Where applicable, experiments conform with Society ethical requirements.

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