Grant: Project Grant

ATP-sensitive potassium channels play an important role in protecting the heart from damage during ischemic heart disease. Our recent results suggest these channels may also play an important role in the appropriate regulation of heart function prior to any disease and that certain commonly used anti-diabetic drugs that target this channel may increase the incidence of certain types of heart disease. This research is aimed at finding the precise mechanisms by which these channels provide protection to the heart as well as determine which anti-diabetic drugs may place a patient at increased risk of heart disease.