The potassium currents in rat and guinea pig ventricular myocytes and mouse astrocytes were studied using tedisamil, a novel antiarrhythmic agent. A 1 to 20 microM dosage of tedisamil caused marked prolongation of the action potential in isolated rat ventricular myocytes, mimicking its reported effects on multicellular rat heart preparations. Under voltage clamp conditions, tedisamil caused a dose-dependent increase in the speed of inactivation of the transient outward K+ current (Ito), the predominant outward current in rat ventricular myocytes. In cardiac myocytes, the tedisamil block was neither use- nor voltage-dependent. The slow reversibility of drug action when applied from the outside, and its effectiveness when applied intracellularly, suggested an internal site of drug action. In guinea pig ventricular myocytes, tedisamil blocked the slowly developing time-dependent delayed rectifier K+ current (IK) over the same concentration range as that found for Ito in the rat myocytes. Tedisamil reduced this current without changing the characteristics of its slow (tau approximately 1 sec) activation. The effects of tedisamil on Ito and IK were independent of the phosphorylation state of the channel, as assessed by the equal effectiveness of the drug in the presence or absence of isoproterenol. Tedisamil also blocked the transient K+ current and the delayed rectifier current (IK) in mouse astrocytes over the same concentration range as that found in the cardiac myocytes and by a process that accelerated (transient K+ current) or mimicked (IK) inactivation. At concentrations of up to 50 microM, tedisamil had little effect on the time-dependent inward rectifier K+ current, or inward calcium current in rat or guinea pig ventricular myocytes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)