Background Diabetes mellitus is associated with coronary dysfunction,contributing to a 2- to 4-fold increase in the risk of coronary heart diseases.The mechanisms by which diabetes induces vasculopathy involve endothelial-dependent and -independent vascular dysfunction in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.The purpose of this study is to determine the role of vascular large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BK) channel activities in coronary dysfunction in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Methods Using videomicroscopy,immunoblotting,fluorescent assay and patch clamp techniques,we investigated the coronary BK channel activities and BK channel-mediated coronary vasoreactivity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Results BK currents (defined as the iberiotoxin-sensitive K+ component) contribute (65±4)％ of the total K+ currents in freshly isolated coronary smooth muscle cells and ＞50％ of the contraction of the inner diameter of coronary arteries from normal rats.However,BK current density is remarkably reduced in coronary smooth muscle cells of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats,leading to an increase in coronary artery tension.BK channel activity in response to free Ca2+ is impaired in diabetic rats.Moreover,cytoplasmic application of DHS-1 (a specific BK channel β1 subunit activator) robustly enhanced the open probability of BK channels in coronary smooth muscle cells of normal rats.In diabetic rats,the DHS-1 effect was diminished in the presence of 200 nmol/L Ca2+ and was significantly attenuated in the presence of high free calcium concentration,i.e.,1 μmol/L Ca2+.Immunoblotting experiments confirmed that there was a 2-fold decrease in BK-β1 protein expression in diabetic vessels,without altering the BK channel α-subunit expression.Although the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration of coronary arterial smooth muscle cells was increased from (103±23)nmol/L (n=5) of control rats to (193±22) nmol/L (n=6,P＜0.05) of STZ-induced diabetic rats,reduced BK-β1expression made these channels less sensitive to intracellular Ca2+,which in t led to enhanced smooth muscle contraction.Conclusions Our results indicated that BK channels are the key determinant of coronary arterial tone.Impaired BK channel function in diabetes mellitus isassociated with down-regulation of BK-β1 expression and reduction of the β1-mediated BK channel activation in diabetic vessels.