Probing the molecular basis of antidiuretic specificity and duration of action with synthetic peptides

Antidiuretic and pressor activities of vasopressin analogs with L-alaninamide and D-alaninamide substitutions at position 9

Analogs of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and lysine vasopressin (LVP)--with an L-alaninamide residue or a D-alaninamide residue replacing the naturally occurring glycinamide in position 9--lose virtually all pressor activity but retain from 10 to 70% of the antidiuretic activity of their parent hormones. These findings, in conjunction with the data of others on the biological consequences of alterations in positions 7 and 8, show that the antidiuretic receptor will tolerate considerably more structural alteration in the C-terminal tripeptide "tail" of the vasopressins than will the pressor receptor.

Vasopressin-mediated forearm vasodilation in normal humans. Evidence for a vascular vasopressin V2 receptor

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a potent vasopressor and antidiuretic neurohormone. However, when administered intravenously to humans, AVP causes forearm vasodilation. This effect has been attributed to sympathetic withdrawal, secondary to AVP-induced sensitization of baroreceptors. The possibility that AVP also causes forearm vasodilation directly has not been examined. Accordingly, the direct effect of AVP was determined by studying the forearm blood flow (FBF) response to intraarterial (IA) AVP infusion (0.01-1.0 ng/kg per min). Infusion of IA AVP increased FBF (96%) in the infused arm, but not the control arm, in a dose-dependent manner. The role of specific AVP V1 receptors in mediating this FBF response was determined before and after pretreatment with a V1 antagonist (AVP-A). AVP-A alone had no effect on FBF, but coadministration of AVP and AVP-A potentiated the vasodilatory response (223%). IA infusion of the V2 agonist, 1-desamino[8-D-arginine] vasopressin, caused a dose-dependent increase in FBF. These findings suggest that AVP causes direct, dose-dependent vasodilation in the human forearm that may be mediated by V2 vasopressinergic receptors. In contrast, AVP infusion caused digital vasoconstriction that was blocked by AVP-A, whereas dDAVP did not affect digital blood flow. Thus, AVP induces regionally selective vascular effects, with concurrent forearm vasodilation and digital vasoconstriction.

[1-Desaminopenicillamine, 8-alpha-hydroxyisocaproic acid] oxytocin. A selective inhibitor in rats of the uterine response to oxytocin

[1-Desaminopenicillamine, 8-alpha-hydroxyisocaproic acid] oxytocin was synthesized by a 6 + 3 fragment condensation from precursors which had been formed by solution methods. This analog inhibited uterine responses to oxytocin (pA2 7.37, 7.9, 6.17; uterus in vitro without Mg++, in vitro with Mg++, and in vivo, respectively) and showed little or no activity in other bioassays.

Partial purification and characterization of post-proline cleaving enzyme: enzymatic inactivation of neurohypophyseal hormones by kidney preparations of various species

The inactivation of the neurohypophyseal hormones arginine vasopressin and oxytocin, both 14C-labelled in the C-terminal glycine residue, by enzymes present in kidney homogenates of various species has been investigated, and some of the enzymes responsible have been partially purified and characterized. The Leu-Gly peptide bond of oxytocin is generally most effectively cleaved by kidney homogenates, although with certain species enzymic activity hydrolyzing the Pro-Leu bond is significant. Degradation of arginine vasopressin is slower than oxytocin in all species studied, and appears to occur by a different overall mechanism since cleavage of the Pro-Arg bond is more significant than hydrolysis of the Arg-Gly bond. The enzyme releasing glycinamide from oxytocin and the "Post-Proline Cleaving Enzyme", which releases C-terminal dipeptide from oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, were partially purified from lamb kidney by ammonium sulfate fractionation and column chromatography. The two enzymes are shown to be separate entities with different pH profiles. The prolyl peptidase activity released the C-terminal dipeptides from oxytocin and arginine vasopressin at similar rates and was inhibited by p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid, 1,10-phenanthroline, L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethylchloromethyl ketone, Co2+, Ca2+, and Zn2+, but significantly enhanced by dithiothreitol. The prolyl peptidase preparation cleaves proline-containing peptide substrates at the Pro-X bond. The rate of cleavage is dependent on the nature of residue X and with the conditions used there is no cleavage when X equals Pro; however, cleavage occurs when X is a D isomer: [Mpr1, D-Arg8] vasopressin is inactivated at a rate similar to [Mpr1, Arg8]- and [Mpr1, Lys8] vasopressin, suggesting that the known prolonged biological action of [Mpr1, D-Arg8] vasopressin is not due to resistance to the prolyl peptidase. In all characteristics tested the lamb kidney prolyl peptidase was identical to the post-proline cleaving enzyme isolated earlier from human uterus. In vivo experiments in the cat suggested that both the glycinamide-releasing enzyme and post-proline cleaving enzyme are present and effective in inactivating neurohypophyseal hormones in the intact animal.