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+