Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 81 (3), 298 - 304 (1999)


Comparison of the Effects of Endothelin-1, -2 and -3 (1 - 31)
on Changes in [Ca2+]i in Human Coronary Artery
Smooth Muscle Cells

Masanori Yoshizumi1, Daisuke Inui1, Kazuyoshi Kirima1, Koichiro Tsuchiya1, Hitoshi Houchi2,
Mami Azuma2, Hiroaki Yasuoka1, Hiroshi Kido3 and Toshiaki Tamaki1,*


1Department of Pharmacology and 2Department of Pharmacy, The University of Tokushima School of Medicine,
3Division of Enzyme Chemistry, The Institute for Enzyme Research, The University of Tokushima,
Tokushima 770 - 8503, Japan
(*) To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: We have previously found that human chymase selectively cleaves big endothelins (ETs) at the Tyr31-Gly32 bond to produce 31-amino-acid endothelins, ETs (1 - 31). In the present study, we investigated the effects of ETs (1 - 31) on changes in intracellular free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) in cultured human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMCs) using confocal laser microscopy. ETs (1 - 31) increased [Ca2+]i in a concentration-dependent manner. Phosphoramidon did not inhibit the increases in [Ca2+]i caused by ETs (1 - 31). The [Ca2+]i increases induced by ETs (1 - 31) were compared to those of ETs (1 - 21) and big ETs. ET-1 (1 - 21) was about 10-times more potent than big ET-1 or ET-1 (1 - 31), whereas big ET-2 was 10-times less potent than ET-2 (1 - 21) or ET-2 (1 - 31). ETs (1 - 31) may induce [Ca2+]i increase through ETA-type or ETA-type-like receptors. The 10-12 M ET (1 - 31)-induced increases in [Ca2+]i were not affected by removal of extracellular Ca2+, but were inhibited by thapsigargin. These results suggested that ET-1, -2 and -3 (1 - 31) showed similar potencies in increasing [Ca2+]i and mechanisms of ET (1 - 31)-induced increases in [Ca2+]i may be similar among the three ETs (1 - 31).

Keywords: Endothelins (1 - 31), Endothelins (1 - 21), Human chymase, Confocal laser microscopy,
Intracellular free Ca2+


Copyright© The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1999

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