Adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels in anoxia.

Potassium channels that are activated by decreasing adenosine trisphosphate levels are blocked by sulfonylurea drugs such as glibenclamide but are opened by diazoxide and some endogenous peptides. Judging from the effects of such drugs, it seems that in the hippocampus, these channels are present not on cell bodies but rather on glutamate-releasing nerve terminals (especially those of mossy fibers in the CA3 region). Because activation of these presynaptic potassium channels reduces anoxic glutamate release, they may be a useful target for specific drug therapy that might prevent the excitoxic effects of excessive glutamate release during anoxia/ischemia.