Blunted non-nitric oxide vasodilatory neurotransmission in penile arteries from renal hypertensive rats

The present study was designed to explore whether there are any effects on neurogenic responses in penile small arteries during the development of hypertension in a one-kidney, one-clip (1K1C) model, a non-renin-dependent model of renovascular hypertension. Five weeks after surgery, male Sprague-Dawley rats were given vehicle, bendroflumethiazide (7.5 mg/kg/day), or L-arginine (2 g/kg/day) in their drinking water for five weeks. Experiments were performed on penile small artery rings (150-200 microm) mounted on microvascular myographs for electrical field stimulation (EFS), and erectile tissue was processed for immunohistochemistry. Maximal neurogenic contractions were unmodified in penile preparations. Relaxations induced by EFS were reduced in the presence of ADMA. In 1K1C rats, neurogenic vasorelaxation mediated by nitric oxide (NO) was unaltered, while relaxation resistant to NO synthase inhibition was blunted. L-arginine and bendroflumethiazide lowered blood pressure in 1K1C rats, but vasodilation was still blunted in the penile arteries. Immunoreactivity for factor VIII and neuronal NO synthase was unaltered in penile arteries from 1K1C animals. Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation evoked by acetylcholine was also blunted in preparations from 1K1C rats, while exogenous NO relaxation was unaffected. Plasma concentrations and urinary excretion of ADMA did not differ among the experimental animals. Our findings indicate that the reduced release of a non-NO vasodilatory neurotransmitter accounts for the impaired neurogenic vasodilation of the penile arteries. Although ADMA inhibits penile vasorelaxation, it is unlikely to affect erectile function in 1K1C rats.

Conversion of renin substrate tetradecapeptide to angiotensin II by rat MAB elastase-2

A new approach for the purification of rat mesenteric arterial bed (MAB) elastase-2 has been developed using the chromogenic substrates N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide and N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-p-nitroanilide to monitor the enzymatic activity during various stages of purification. The purified enzyme was evaluated in the presence of various inhibitors and confirmed to have angiotensin (Ang) II-forming ability. The active site-directed inhibitor acetyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-chloromethylketone (100 µmol·L-1), described for human pancreatic elastase-2, abolished the enzymatic activity, confirming that the enzyme is an elastase-2. Chymostatin (100 µmol·L-1), an inhibitor regarded as selective for chymases, also showed a remarkable inhibitory effect (94%), whereas captopril (100 µmol·L-1) had no effect at all on the Ang II-forming activity. The Ang II precursor renin substrate tetradecapeptide (RS-14P) was converted into Ang II by the rat MAB elastase-2 with the following kinetic constants: Km= 124 ± 21 µmol·L-1; Kcat= 629 min-1; catalytic efficiency (Kcat/Km) = 5.1 min-1µ(mol/L)-1. In conclusion, the strategy for the purification of rat MAB elastase-2 with the chromogenic substrates proved to be simple, rapid, accurate, and highly reproducible; therefore, it can be reliably and conveniently used to routinely purify this enzyme. The kinetic parameters for the formation of Ang II from RS-14P by rat MAB elastase-2 emphasize differences in substrate specificity between this and other Ang II-forming enzymes.Key words: N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide, N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-p-nitroanilide, elastase-2, angiotensin II, renin substrate tetradecapeptide.

Functional role, cellular source, and tissue distribution of rat elastase-2, an angiotensin II-forming enzyme

We recently described a chymostatin-sensitive elastase-2 as the major angiotensin (ANG) II-forming enzyme in the perfusate of the rat mesenteric arterial bed (MAB) with the same cDNA sequence as rat pancreatic elastase-2. The role of this enzyme in generating ANG II was examined in the rat isolated and perfused MAB. The vasoconstrictor effect elicited by ANG I and the renin substrate tetradecapeptide was only partially inhibited by captopril but abolished by the combination of captopril and chymostatin or N-acetyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-chloromethylketone (Ac-AAPL-CK; inhibitor originally developed for human elastase-2). The effect induced by [Pro11,d-Ala12]-ANG I, an ANG I-converting enzyme (ACE)-resistant biologically inactive precursor of ANG II, was blocked by chymostatin or Ac-AAPL-CK. It was also demonstrated that cultured rat mesenteric endothelial cells synthesize elastase-2 and that mRNA for this enzyme can be detected in different rat tissues such as the pancreas, MAB, lung, heart, kidney, liver, and spleen. In conclusion, the demonstration of a functional alternative pathway to ACE for ANG II generation in the rat MAB and the fact that cultured MAB endothelial cells are capable of producing and secreting elastase-2 represent strong evidence of a physiological role for this enzyme in the rat vasculature.

Kinetic characterization and inhibition of the rat MAB elastase-2, an angiotensin I-converting serine protease

An elastase-2 has been recently described as the major angiotensin (Ang) II-forming enzyme of the rat mesenteric arterial bed (MAB) perfusate. Here, we have investigated the interaction of affinity-purified rat MAB elastase-2 with some substrates and inhibitors of both pancreatic elastases-2 and Ang II-forming chymases. The Ang II precursor [Pro 11 -D-Ala 12]-Ang I was converted into Ang II by the rat MAB elastase-2 with catalytic efficiency of 8.6 min-1 microM-1, and the chromogenic substrates N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-p-nitroanilide and N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide were hydrolyzed by the enzyme with catalytic efficiencies of 10.6 min-1 microM-1 and 7.6 min-1 microM-1, respectively. The non-cleavable peptide inhibitor CH-5450 inhibited the rat MAB elastase-2 activities toward the substrates Ang I (IC50 = 49 microM) and N-succinly-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide (IC 50 = 4.8 microM), whereas N-acetyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-chloromethylketone, an effective active site-directed inhibitor of pancreatic elastase-2, efficiently blocked the Ang II-generating activity of the rat MAB enzyme (IC 50 = 4.5 microM). Altogether, the data presented here confirm and extend the enzymological similarities between pancreatic elastase-2 and its rat MAB counterpart. Moreover, the thus far unrealized interaction of elastase-2 with [Pro 11-D-Ala 12]-Ang I and CH-5450, both regarded as selective for chymases, suggests that evidence for the in vivo formation of Ang II by chymases may have been overestimated in previous investigations of Ang II-forming pathways.

Nonendothelial NO blunts sympathetic response of normotensive rats but not of SHR

The inhibitory role of NO on sympathetic-induced contraction of resistance vessels of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) has not been defined. Accordingly, we investigated the effect of endothelial removal or NO synthase inhibition on vasoconstrictor responses to sympathetic stimulation or phenylephrine in perfused mesenteric beds isolated from normotensive rats (NR) and SHR. Electrical stimulation (10 to 64 Hz) of perivascular nerves elicited a frequency-dependent increase in perfusion pressure that was greater in preparations from SHR (maximal effect: 223.4+/-8.4 versus 117.6+/-10.3 mm Hg in NR, n=6, P<0.001), and endothelium removal did not affect these responses in arteries from NR but caused a significant shift to the left of the frequency-response curve in arteries from SHR. In arteries with endothelium, inhibition of NO synthase with N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 50 micromol/L) augmented the vasoconstrictor responses to sympathetic stimulation in both NR and SHR preparations. In preparations that had the endothelium removed, however, L-NNA potentiated only the responses to sympathetic stimulation of NR arteries. Vasoconstrictor responses to phenylephrine was potentiated by endothelium removal and in the presence of L-NNA only when the endothelium was intact in both NR and SHR arteries. The number of NADPH-diaphorase-positive cells in the superior mesenteric sympathetic ganglion of SHR was significantly less compared with that of NR. In conclusion, these data suggest a prejunctional inhibitory action of non-endothelial-derived NO, most probably neuronal-derived NO, on sympathetic-mediated vasoconstriction in NR arteries. In contrast, enhancement of the sympathetic-mediated vasoconstriction in SHR arteries elicited by L-NNA can be attributed to inhibition of endothelial-derived NO.