Vasoconstrictor-induced heterologous down-regulation of vascular atrial natriuretic peptide receptor

Abstract

Long-term (24 h) pretreatment of cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells with 100 nM angiotensin and 1 microM vasopressin induced a marked reduction of the maximal binding capacity of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) receptors in a fashion similar to that induced by phorbol ester. The down-regulation of the receptors induced by vasoconstrictors and phorbol ester was concomitantly associated with an attenuation of ANP-stimulated cGMP accumulation. These data suggest that vasoconstrictor-induced activation of protein kinase C is involved in the mechanism of heterologous down-regulation of vascular ANP receptors.