Denan Jin, Keifu Song, Yuko Oka, Shinji Takai, Naotaka Shiota and Mizuo
Miyazaki (*)
Department of Pharmacology, Osaka Medical College, 2-7, Daigaku-machi
Takatsuki, Osaka 569, Japan
(*) To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract: The pharmacological properties of 2-butyl-4-(methylthio)-1-[[2'-[[[(propylamino)carbonyl]
amino]sulfonyl](1,1'-biphenyl)-4-yl]methyl]-1H-imidazole-5-carboxylate (HR720),
a novel non-peptide angiotensin (Ang) II type I (AT1) receptor antagonist,
were characterized in both in vitro and in vivo systems. In vitro autoradiography
using 125I-[Sar1,Ile8]Ang II as a ligand revealed that HR720 competitively
inhibited the specific binding of the ligand to the adrenal cortex. The
IC50 value for the adrenal cortex was 1.5 x 10-8 M, and the IC50 for medulla
was 1.4 x 10-6 M. Similar results were obtained in the adrenal cortex with
CV-11974, a known potent AT1-receptor antagonist. Since AT1 receptors are
known to predominate in the adrenal cortex and AT2-receptors in the adrenal
medulla, it is considered that HR720 is highly selective for AT1 receptors.
HR720 inhibited the Ang II-induced contraction of isolated rabbit aortic
strips and human gastroepiploic arteries in a noncompetitive manner, pD'2=9.40
and 9.62 for rabbit aorta and human artery, respectively. With CV-11974,
pD'2 values of 9.84 in isolated rabbit aorta and 10.00 in human artery were
obtained. HR720 did not affect the norepinephrine-, serotonin- or KCI-induced
contraction even at a concentration of 1 x 10-5 M. In anesthetized hamsters,
HR720 induced a dose-dependent inhibition of the pressure response to Ang
II. The potency of HR720 to antagonize the Ang II-induced pressure response
was similar to that of CV-11974. These results demonstrate that HR720 is
a potent and selective AT1-receptor antagonist.
Keywords: Renin-angiotensin system, Angiotensin II, Receptor, Antagonist,
Isolated vessel