KCNMA1 and Hypokalemia: However, the hslo subunit does not seem to have a significant role in the reduction of the cell viability observed under hypokalemia in our experiments and the BK openers failed to induce cytoprotection against the low K+ -dependent reduction of cell viability and caspase-3 activation either in the hslo-HEK293 and HEK293 cells.