Evidence for a direct vasoconstrictor effect of big endothelin-1 in the rat kidney

The peptidase inhibitor CGS-26303 increases endothelin converting enzyme-1 expression in endothelial cells through accumulation of big endothelin-1

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

CGS-26303 inhibits endothelin converting enzyme (ECE)-1 more specifically than phosphoramidon. We have studied the effect of CGS-26303 on ECE-1 expression in bovine aortic endothelial cells.

METHODS

ECE-1 activity and big endothelin (ET)-1 levels were measured by ELISA, ECE-1 expression using western and northern blot and promoter activity using transfection assays.

KEY RESULTS

ECE-1 activity was completely inhibited by CGS-26303 25 microM and phosphoramidon 100 microM. CGS-26303 and phosphoramidon, though not thiorphan, a neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitor, stimulated ECE-1 expression in cells (maximal effect at 16 h, 25 microM). Cycloheximide abolished that effect. CGS-26303 induced ECE-1 mRNA expression and ECE-1 promoter activity. CGS-35066, a selective ECE-1 inhibitor, mimicked the effects of CGS-26303, suggesting that the effect was specific to ECE-1 inhibition. Big ET-1 accumulated in the cells and in the supernatants after CGS-26303 treatment. Neither exogenously added ET-1 nor the blockade of their receptors with bosentan modified ECE-1 protein. When big ET-1 was added to cells, significant increases in ECE-1 protein content and ECE-1 promoter activity were found. Bosentan did not block those effects. CGS-26303 did not modify prepro-ET-1 expression. CGS-26303 and big ET-1 induced the same effects in human endothelial cells, at lower doses.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the accumulation of big ET-1 is responsible for the effects of CGS-26303 on ECE-1 and they did not depend on NEP blockade. Changes in ECE-1 protein after the administration of CGS-26303 could lead to a decreased response in long-term treatments.

Receptor- and non-receptor-mediated clearance of big-endothelin and endothelin-1: differential effects of acute and chronic ETA receptor blockade

AIMS

The aims of this study were to define and characterize the different mechanisms and sites of clearance of plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) and big endothelin-1 (BigET-1) and evaluate possible effects of ETA versus combined ETA and ETB receptor blockade or endothelin converting enzyme (ECE) inhibition.

METHODS

Time courses and sites of clearance were evaluated in Wistar-Kyoto rats after bolus injection of radiolabelled peptides into the carotid artery before or after treatment with LU1 35252 (ETA) and bosentan (ETA and ETB) as receptor antagonists or the ECE inhibitor phosphoramidon.

RESULTS

The study shows that differential clearance of 125I-ET-1 and 125I-BigET-1 is mediated by distinct tissue-specific, receptor- and non-receptor-mediated mechanisms. Low levels of plasma ET-1 are rapidly cleared, mainly in the pulmonary circulation, through a low-capacity saturable ETB receptor-linked mechanism. In contrast, BigET-1 clearance is markedly slower, confined largely to liver and kidneys, is essentially non-receptor-mediated and is independent of converting enzyme activity. Acute inhibition of both ETA and ETB receptors with bosentan dramatically prolonged 125I-ET-1 plasma half-life and shifted tissue uptake from lung to liver and kidneys. Pulmonary clearance of 125I-ET-1 was decreased by chronic but not acute treatment with the specific ETA receptor antagonist LU135252. In contrast, 125I-Big-ET-1 clearance and tissue uptake were essentially unchanged by all treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

Plasma levels and clearance studies on ET-1 and BigET-1 may provide differential information regarding pathological changes in their separate uptake mechanisms. Such data could have diagnostic or prognostic value in pulmonary, hepatic and renal pathophysiology or future therapeutic monitoring of treatment efficacy following administration of selective receptor antagonists.

The effects of endothelin peptides in the rabbit isolated perfused kidney

1. Endothelin-1 (21-amino acids) and pre-pro endothelin-1 (39-amino acids) produced a concentration-dependent increase in perfusion pressure when infused through the renal artery of rabbit isolated perfused kidney. Addition of phosphoramidon to the medium caused a potentiation in the vasoconstrictor response to endothelin-1 and greatly, but not completely, inhibited vasoconstriction induced by pre-pro-endothelin-1. 2. Addition of indomethacin to the medium did not alter the vasoconstrictor effects of the peptides. 3. Methylene blue in the medium caused a highly significant potentiation in the vasoconstrictor response to endothelin-1. 4. A short-term infusion of endothelin-1 through the renal artery elicited a decrease in urine flow which returned to control levels after perfusing the kidney with Krebs buffer, but prolonged infusion of the peptide produced an irreversible increase in urine flow. 5. Phosphoramidon, methylene blue and indomethacin failed to alter the effect of endothelin-1 on urine flow. 6. From these results it was concluded that phosphoramidon-sensitive endothelin-converting enzyme, probably localized in microvasculature of the kidney, can convert pre-pro-endothelin-1 to endothelin-1 which is responsible for the vasoconstrictor effect of pre-pro-endothelin-1 in addition to its possible direct vasoconstrictor effect on kidney vasculature. Moreover, the endothelin-1 degradating enzyme in kidney should be a phosphoramidon-sensitive metalloproteinase(s). The results also indicated the release of EDRF but not prostanoids by endothelin-peptides in the rabbit isolated perfused kidney.

Phosphoramidon-sensitive conversion of big endothelin-1 and degradation of endothelin-1 in rat kidney

We investigated the intrarenal conversion of big endothelin-1 (ET-1) to ET-1 in the isolated perfused rat kidney. Big ET-1 caused a concentration-dependent increase in perfusion pressure, and the pressor molar potency of the peptide was 50-fold less than that of ET-1. The big ET-1 (2 x 10(-8) mol/L)-induced pressor action was accompanied by increases in immunoreactive endothelin levels in both the perfusate and renal tissues. Phosphoramidon (10(-4) mol/L), a metalloproteinase inhibitor, significantly suppressed the big ET-1-induced pressor action and the accumulation of immunoreactive endothelin in renal tissues. On the other hand, phosphoramidon slightly but significantly sustained the ET-1-induced pressor effect. The effect of kelatorphan (10(-4) mol/L), a specific inhibitor of neutral endopeptidase 24.11, on the ET-1-induced pressor effect was the same as that seen with phosphoramidon. When ET-1 was exogenously added to the perfusate, phosphoramidon or kelatorphan significantly increased the immunoreactive endothelin levels in renal tissues after perfusion, without affecting the disappearance rate of immunoreactive endothelin from the perfusate. Therefore, the phosphoramidon-sensitive ET-1-converting enzyme in the kidney seems to contribute to the functional local conversion of big ET-1 to ET-1, and neutral endopeptidase 24.11 may be responsible for the proteolytic degradation of ET-1 in the kidney. In addition, immunoreactive endothelin levels in renal tissues but not in the perfusate can account for the functional conversion of big ET-1 to ET-1 and for the local proteolytic degradation of ET-1 in the kidney.

ETA receptor-mediated responses to endothelin-1 and big endothelin-1 in the rat kidney

1. Renal clearance experiments were conducted in anaesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats to determine the effect of the ETA receptor antagonist, BQ-123, on the renal haemodynamic response to endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its precursor, big endothelin-1 (big ET-1) at doses that produce an equivalent degree of renal vasoconstriction. 2. Infusion of either big ET-1 at 100 pmol kg-1 min-1 or ET-1 at 12 pmol kg-1 min-1 for 60 min produced almost identical decreases in renal blood flow (RBF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Big ET-1 produced an increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) that was significantly larger than the increase produced by ET-1. 3. Co-infusion with BQ-123 (0.1 mg kg-1 min-1) prevented the rise in MAP produced by big ET-1 and completely blocked the renal response. Similarly, BQ-123 inhibited both the increase in MAP and the decrease in RPF and GFR produced by ET-1. 4. Big ET-1 but not ET-1, produced a significant increase in water and sodium excretion. BQ-123 had no effect on the diuretic and natriuretic response to big ET-1 consistent with possible ETB-mediated inhibition of tubular reabsorption. 5. We have previously shown that at higher doses of ET-1, BQ-123 was unable to inhibit the renal vasoconstrictor response despite blockade of the pressor response. Taken together, these results indicate that ET-1 activates primarily ETA receptors at moderately low doses to produce renal vasoconstriction while higher doses also involve non-ETA receptors. 6. Since ET-l has a similar binding affinity for both ETA and ETB receptors, we suggest that there maybe a third type of ET-1 receptor in the rat kidney with lower affinity for ET-1 that is coupled to a vasoconstrictor mechanism.

Intrarenal conversion of big endothelin-1 to endothelin-1 in the rat

Intravenous (i.v.) or intrarenal arterial (i.r.a.) injection of big endothelin-1 (big ET-1) (1.6 nmol/kg) in anesthetized rats produced a significant increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP), a decrease in renal blood flow (RBF) and an increase in renal vascular resistance (RVR). Although the pressor responses to big ET-1 of i.v. and i.r.a. injection were not significantly different, i.r.a. injection of big ET-1 caused a significantly greater reduction in RBF than that seen with i.v. injection of big ET-1. The effects of i.r.a. injection of the peptide on MAP and RBF were markedly suppressed by phosphoramidon. Big ET-1 caused dose-dependent pressor effects in isolated perfused rat kidney and these pressor effects were significantly suppressed by phosphoramidon. Thus, renal vasculature possesses a phosphoramidon-sensitive endothelin converting enzyme, which may play an important role for the renal hemodynamic regulation.

In vivo expression of mutant preproendothelins: hierarchy of processing events but no strict requirement of Trp-Val at the processing site

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), a 21-residue vasoconstrictor peptide, originates in human cells from a 212-amino acid precursor (preproET-1). Big ET-1, an intermediate form of 38 amino acids, is generated by cleavage at basic-pair residues of proET-1, while a specific "ET-converting enzyme" was proposed to process the unusual Trp-Val site at positions 21 and 22 of big ET-1. We have previously shown that expression of synthetic RNA encoding human preproET-1 in Xenopus oocytes results in secretion of putative ET-1 and big ET-1. Here, to further dissect the processing pathway of preproET-1, we designed and expressed in oocytes a set of preproET-1 mutants. Four mutants affecting the Trp-Val site always originated putative ET-1(s) at levels comparable to the wild type, suggesting that there is only a conformational requirement for cleavage at this site. An Arg-->Ile mutation at the basic-pair site after the C terminus of big ET-1 fully inhibited the formation of both big ET-1 and ET-1, indicating that processing at this site is an early event and that big ET-1 is an obligate intermediate for the synthesis of ET-1 in vivo. Also, a truncated mutant bearing a stop codon after the C terminus of the big ET-1 sequence was totally stable and further processed into mature big ET-1 and ET-1, indicating that the second part of the precursor is not necessary for maturation.