A nonradioactive method for localization of endothelin receptor mRNA in situ

Functional and molecular characterization of receptor subtypes mediating coronary microvascular dilation to adenosine

Adenosine is a potent vasodilator of the coronary microvessels and is implicated in the regulation of coronary blood flow during metabolic stress. However, the receptor subtypes and the vasodilatory mechanism responsible for the dilation of coronary microvessels to adenosine remain unclear. In the present study, using an isolated-vessel preparation we demonstrated that porcine coronary arterioles (50-100 microm) dilated concentration-dependently to adenosine, CPA (adenosine A1 receptor agonist) and CGS21680 (adenosine A2A receptor agonist). These vasodilations were not altered by the A1 receptor antagonist CPX, but were abolished by the selective A2A receptor antagonist ZM241385, indicating that activation of A2A receptors mediates these vasodilatory responses. The protein kinase A inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS abolished coronary arteriolar dilations to adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin and cAMP analog 8-Br-cAMP, but failed to inhibit adenosine- and CGS21680-induced dilations. The calcium-activated potassium channel inhibitor iberiotoxin also did not affect vasodilations to adenosine and CGS21680. In contrast, the ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channel inhibitor glibenclamide abolished vasodilations to adenosine and CGS21680 but did not affect vasodilations to forskolin and 8-Br-cAMP. In addition, the cAMP level in coronary microvessels was not increased by adenosine or CGS21680. The results from RT/PCR and in situ hybridization indicated that adenosine A2A receptor mRNA was encoded in coronary arterioles and the left anterior descending (LAD) artery but not in cardiomyocytes, whereas the A1 receptor transcript was detected in the LAD artery and cardiomyocytes but not in arterioles. Similarly, adenosine A1 and A2A proteins were expressed in the LAD artery, but only A2A receptors were expressed in coronary arterioles. Collectively, these functional data suggest that coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine is primarily mediated by the opening of K(ATP) channels through activation of A2A receptors. This conclusion is corroborated by the molecular data showing that coronary arterioles only express adenosine A2A receptors. Furthermore, the dilation of coronary microvessels to adenosine A2A receptor activation appears to be independent of cAMP signaling.

Endothelial dysfunction in the pulmonary vascular bed

The pulmonary endothelium modulates vascular tone by the release of endothelium-derived constricting (EDCF) and relaxing (EDRF) factors, among them endothelin-1, nitric oxide, prostacyclin, and putative endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors. Abnormalities in EDCF and EDRF generation have been demonstrated in a number of cardiopulmonary disease states, such as primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive lung disease, cardiopulmonary bypass, and congestive heart failure. An imbalance between EDCF and EDRF, termed "pulmonary endothelial dysfunction," may contribute to the alteration in vascular tone characteristic of pulmonary disease. The following review summarizes the present knowledge of the role of EDCF and EDRF in such processes with major focus on pulmonary endothelial dysfunction in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.

Localization and function of ET-1 and ET receptors in small arteries post-myocardial infarction: upregulation of smooth muscle ET(B) receptors that modulate contraction

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been implicated as a mediator of increased vascular tone during development of heart failure post-myocardial infarction (MI). In the present study, expression and pharmacology of ET-1 and its receptors were studied in small mesenteric arteries from rats at 5 and 12 weeks after coronary artery ligation for induction of MI, or sham-operation. In vessels from sham-operated and 5 week post-MI rats preproET-1mRNA, immunoreactive (ir) ET-1, ET(B) receptor mRNA and irET(B) receptor were confined to the endothelium, while ET(A) receptor mRNA was distributed throughout the media. At 12 weeks post-MI, preproET-1 and irET(A) receptor localization was similar but ET(B) receptor mRNA and immunoreactivity were detectable in the media, as well as the endothelium. The ET-1 concentration-response curve (CRC) was progressively shifted to the right in pressurized third generation mesenteric arteries from 5 and 12 week post-MI rats relative to sham-operated rats, with no change in the maximum. The ET(A) receptor antagonist BQ-123 (10(-6) M) induced a rightward shift of the ET-1 CRC in all vessels. Desensitization of ET(B) receptors, by exposure to SRTX S6c (3x10(-8) M), had no effect on the ET-1 CRC in vessels from 5 week post-MI or sham-op rats but induced a leftward shift in vessels from 12 week post-MI rats. These results identify the endothelium as the primary site of ET-1 synthesis in small arteries and the ET(A) receptor as mediating the effects of ET-1 in these vessels. However, ET(B) receptor expression increases in vascular smooth muscle post-MI and is linked to mechanisms that inhibit the contractile response to ET-1.