Cadmium (Cd) contamination leads to a variety of clinical diseases. Potassium ion (K^＋) channel is the most diverse and ubiquitous class of ion channels, and it plays the important physiological roles in human. In order to elucidate the cellular mechanism of the pathogenic and toxic effect of Cd^2＋pollution, the effects of Cd^2＋on the currents of a human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) K^＋channel was investigated by a whole-cell patch clamp method. The results indicated that Cd^2＋ significantly inhibited the steady-state and tail currents of hERG K^＋channel. When cells were treated with 10, 50, 200 μg/L Cd^2＋, the activation curve of hERG K^＋channel was right-shifted, and the slope factor was not changed. The currents of hERG K^＋channel was not significantly changed with increasing the concentration of Cd^2＋. The results suggested that potassium channels can be used as the target of the research on the the cellular mechanism of the pathogenic and toxic effect of Cd^2＋pollution.

Key words: cadmium, hERG, potassium ion channel, HEK293