Hypertension. 2001;37:84-90
(Hypertension. 2001;37:84.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Endothelin-1Independent and Angiotensin IIIndependent Induction of Adrenomedullin Gene Expression
Hannu Romppanen;
Jutta Puhakka;
Gábor Földes;
István Szokodi;
Olli Vuolteenaho;
Heikki Tokola;
Miklós Tóth;
Heikki Ruskoaho
From the Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology (H.R., J.P., I.S.,
H.T., H.R.) and Physiology (O.V.), Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu
(Finland); and the First Department of Medicine (G.F., M.T.), Semmelweis
University, Budapest, Hungary.
Correspondence to Heikki Ruskoaho, MD, PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland. E-mail heikki.ruskoaho{at}oulu.fi
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Abstract
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AbstractAdrenomedullin (AM) may
function as an autocrine
and/or paracrine factor in the heart, but the
exact mechanisms
regulating cardiac AM gene expression are unknown. The
aim
of the present study was to characterize the precise time
course
of induction of atrial and ventricular AM gene
expression during
pressure overload and to study whether endothelin-1
or angiotensin
II plays a causal role in the activation of
cardiac AM gene
expression. The pressure overload was produced by
arginine-vasopressin
(AVP, 0.05 µg/kg per minute IV) infusion for 15
minutes,
30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours in conscious rats. A
significant increase in left ventricular AM mRNA levels was
seen after 2 hours of pressure overload in the left ventricle
and after
30 minutes in the left atrium. The left atrial immunoreactive
AM
(ir-AM) levels decreased significantly after 2 hours of
pressure
overload. Plasma ir-AM levels increased slightly in
response to 4 hours
of AVP infusion. Bolus injections of bosentan
(mixed
ET
A/ET
B receptor antagonist, 10
mg/kg IV), losartan
(AT
1 receptor
antagonist, 10 mg/kg IV), and their combination
had no
effect on the increase of cardiac AM mRNA and ir-AM
levels produced by
2 hours of pressure overload. In addition,
losartan, bosentan,
and their combination did not affect plasma
ir-AM levels in the
vehicle-infused and AVP-infused animals.
The present study
indicates that cardiac AM gene expression
is rapidly upregulated in
response to pressure. The induction
of ventricular and
atrial AM gene expression by pressure overload
is
angiotensin IIindependent and endothelin-1independent.
Key Words: adrenomedullin gene expression angiotensin II endothelin
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Introduction
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Cardiac overload is known to produce the
hypertrophy of individual
muscle cells and alter the
expression of several cardiac-specific
genes
1 2 including
atrial natriuretic peptide and B-type
natriuretic
peptide (BNP),
3 4 5 but it has not
yet been established whether
wall stretch acts directly or through
local paracrine and autocrine
factors liberated in response to
hemodynamic load. In particular,
local
angiotensin II (Ang II) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) may play
an
important role in the adaptation of the heart to pressure
and volume
overload.
6 7 Adrenomedullin (AM) is a novel hypotensive
peptide, originally isolated from human pheochromocytoma.
8
Infusion of AM causes vasodilation, diuresis, and natriuresis
in normal animals (for reviews, see References
9 11 ). Subsequent
studies have shown that AM peptide and mRNA
are distributed
in a variety of tissues, including the
heart.
12 13 Binding
studies have demonstrated the presence
of specific receptors
for AM in the heart.
14 AM increases
cardiac output and left
ventricular
contractility in vivo
9 10 11 and exerts a
direct
inotropic effect in vitro.
15 The finding that AM
attenuates
Ang IIstimulated and serum-stimulated protein synthesis
in
cardiac myocytes
16 further suggests a role for AM in
paracrine
and/or autocrine regulation of cardiac function. In addition,
AM is a circulating hormone, and its plasma concentration is
increased
in various cardiorenal diseases such as hypertension,
chronic kidney
failure, and congestive heart failure.
9 10 11 Previous
studies have also revealed that ventricular AM levels
are
increased in several hypertensive models with cardiac
hypertrophy.
17 18 19 Left
ventricular AM gene expression has been reported
to
increase in response to aortic banding in rats within 24
hours,
20 whereas Kaiser et al
21 did not find
changes in
AM mRNA levels during aortic banding from 30 minutes up to
28
days. We have recently reported that AM gene expression is increased
in the left ventricle by pressure overload within 2
hours,
22 whereas in a recent study,
ventricular AM gene expression
was upregulated only in
advanced heart failure.
23 Thus, the
pathophysiological significance and time course of
induction
of AM gene expression in the heart as well as the mechanisms
regulating cardiac AM production in hemodynamic
overload remain
unclear.
In the present study, to characterize the exact time course of
induction of cardiac AM gene expression, we measured
hemodynamics and tissue mRNA and peptide levels of AM
and plasma-immunoreactive AM (ir-AM) levels at 15 minutes, 30 minutes,
1 hour, 2 hours, and 4 hours after pressure overload produced by
intravenous infusion of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) in
conscious normotensive rats. We also assessed the effects of the mixed
ETa/ETb receptor
antagonist bosentan, the AT1 receptor
antagonist losartan, or their combination on the
induction of cardiac AM gene expression to determine whether ET-1 or
Ang II plays a causal role in the activation of AM gene expression by
pressure overload in ventricles and atria. Furthermore, the actions of
ET-1 and Ang II receptor antagonism on atrial and
ventricular levels of AM mRNA and tissue and plasma peptide
levels under basal conditions (without pressure overload) in conscious
rats were also analyzed.
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Methods
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Drugs
AVP was obtained from Peninsula Laboratories Europe, bosentan
from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Actelion Ltd (Dr Martine
Clozel),
losartan from DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co (Dr Ronald
D.
Smith), and [
32P]-deoxy-CTP and radioiodine
from Amersham.
Experimental Design in Conscious Rats
The 2-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=56) were
anesthetized with 0.26 mg/kg fentanyl citrate, 8.25 mg/kg
fluanisone, and 4.1 mg/kg midazolam IP and instrumented for vehicle and
drug infusions as previously described.24 The experiments
were started in conscious animals by measurement of mean
arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate for 25 minutes
before 1.0 mL of blood was withdrawn for the measurement of plasma
ir-AM. The volume was replaced with an equal volume of blood from a
donor rat. Baseline hemodynamics were taken 5 minutes
later, when MAP and heart rate had stabilized near the control values.
AVP (0.05 µg/kg per minute IV) or vehicle (0.9% NaCl IV) was infused
at 37.5 µL/min for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, and 4
hours. In a separate series of experiments, bosentan (10 mg/kg),
losartan (10 mg/kg), their combination, or vehicle (0.9% NaCl)
was injected as an intravenous bolus (injection volume, 0.1
mL/100 g body wt) followed by 2 hours of vehicle or AVP infusion.
Arterial blood samples were taken at the end of infusions.
Finally, Ang II (33 µg/kg per hour, n=9) or vehicle (0.9% NaCl, n=9)
was infused for 12 hours through subcutaneously implanted osmotic
minipumps (Alzet 2001). For telemetric monitoring of MAP and heart
rate, the rats were instrumented with a catheter in the descending
aorta coupled with a sensor and transmitter (PA-C40, Data Sciences
International). Tissues were prepared as previously
described24 for the peptide and mRNA determinations at the
end of drug and vehicle infusions. All cardiac tissue samples were
blotted dry, weighed, immersed in the liquid nitrogen, and stored at
-70°C until assayed. The experimental design was approved by the
Animal Use and Care Committee of the University of Oulu.
Isolation and Analysis of RNA
RNA was isolated from ventricles and atria by the guanidine
thiocyanateCsCl method.5 For the RNA Northern blot
analysis, 20-µg samples of the RNA from the ventricles and
5-µg samples from atria were separated by electrophoresis on agarose
gel and transferred to nylon membranes. A 390-bp fragment of rat BNP
cDNA,25 a cDNA probe (450 bp) for AM made by reverse
transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction,22 and a
full-length cDNA probe complementary to rat glyseraldehyde
3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH)26 were labeled, and the
membranes were hybridized and washed as described
previously.22 The hybridization signal of AM mRNA and BNP
mRNA was normalized to that of GAPDH mRNA in each sample.
Radioimmunoassays
The AM and BNP radioimmunoassays were performed as previously
described.5 22 The sensitivities of the AM and BNP assays
were 1 fmol/tube and 2 fmol/tube, respectively. The intra-assay and
interassay variations were <10% and 15%, respectively. Serial
dilutions of tissue and plasma extracts showed parallelism with the
standards. Tissue AM and BNP are expressed as a concentration per
milligram wet weight.
Statistics
The results are expressed as mean±SEM. For the comparison of
statistical significance between 2 groups, the Students t
test was used. The hemodynamic variables were
analyzed with 1-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls post
hoc test. A value of P<0.05 was considered
statistically significant.
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Results
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Characterization of Pressure-Overload Model
Pressure overload was produced by infusion of AVP to study the
regulatory mechanisms for induction of cardiac AM gene expression.
To
validate the model, we examined the activation of BNP synthesis
in
ventricles and atria because it is one of the earliest cardiac
myocytespecific markers of hemodynamic
overload.
5 24 AVP infusion rapidly raised MAP, which
reached maximum value
within 15 minutes. This increase in MAP was
associated with
a significant decrease in heart rate when compared with
the
vehicle group (Table
). MAP and heart rate remained unchanged
in the
vehicle-treated animals (Table
). AVP infusion caused
a
significant increase in BNP mRNA levels both in the endocardial
and the
epicardial layers of left ventricle from 1 hour onward
(Figure 1
and Figure 2
, A and B), followed by a significant
increase in left ventricular ir-BNP levels at 2 and 4 hours
(Figure 2
, A and B). Left atrial BNP mRNA levels increased
within 30 minutes, and this increase was greatest at 4 hours
(Figure 2C
). The increase in left atrial BNP mRNA was associated
with a
significant decrease in ir-BNP levels at 2 and 4 hours
(Figure 2C
).

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Figure 1. Northern blot analysis showing effect of AVP infusion on rat left ventricular AM and BNP mRNA levels. Each lane contains 20 µg total RNA prepared from epicardium (epi) and endocardium (endo) of left ventricle. Northern blot with rat AM and BNP cDNA probes identified single 1.4-kb and 0.9-kb mRNA species, respectively, in ventricle. Hybridization signal for GAPDH is also shown. Veh indicates vehicle.
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Figure 2. Effects of intravenous administration of AVP on left ventricular endocardial (A) and epicardial (B) and left atrial (C) BNP mRNA and ir-BNP levels in conscious rats. mRNA results are expressed as ratio to GAPDH, as determined by Northern blot analysis. Open bars indicate vehicle; solid bars, AVP. Data are mean±SEM. For number of experiments in each group, see Table. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, AVP vs vehicle (Students t test).
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Effects of Pressure Overload on Cardiac AM Gene Expression
AVP infusion caused rapid upregulation of ventricular
AM gene expression. A significant increase in AM mRNA levels was
observed at 2 and 4 hours both in the endocardial and epicardial layer
of the left ventricle, the increase being 2-fold in both layers of the
left ventricle in response to 4 hours of AVP infusion (Figure 1
and Figure 3, A and B). There were no
differences in left ventricular ir-AM levels between
vehicle-infused and AVP-infused animals (Figure 3, A and B). The
AVP infusion caused a significant increase of AM mRNA levels also in
the left atria. A 1.3-fold induction in AM mRNA levels was seen already
after 30 minutes of AVP infusion, the greatest increase (3.5-fold)
being observed after 4 hours of AVP infusion (Figure 3C). Like
BNP, ir-AM levels decreased in the left atria by 46%
(P<0.05) and by 40% (P<0.01) after 2 and 4
hours infusion of AVP, respectively (Figure 3C). In
vehicle-treated animals, baseline left atrial concentrations of ir-AM
(243±15 fmol/g) were higher than that in the left ventricle
(endocardium: 62±3 fmol/g, epicardium: 80±2 fmol/g). AVP infusion had
no effect on right atrial pressure and AM mRNA levels (data not shown)
as well as on right BNP mRNA levels,5 supporting the
hypothesis AVP has no direct effect on cardiac gene expression under
these experimental conditions.

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Figure 3. Effects of intravenous administration of AVP on left ventricular endocardial (A) and epicardial (B) and left atrial (C) AM mRNA and ir-AM levels in conscious rats. mRNA results are expressed as ratio to GAPDH, as determined by Northern blot analysis. Open bars indicate vehicle; solid bars, AVP. Data are mean±SEM. For number of experiments in each group, see Table. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, AVP vs vehicle (Students t test).
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To strengthen the hypothesis that pressor overload stimulates AM gene
expression, we infused Ang II in conscious rats by osmotic minipumps
for 12 hours. Ang II infusion raised MAP (from 103±8 to 141±9
mm Hg, P<0.05) and decreased heart rate (from 373±29 to
320±16 bpm, P<0.05), whereas during the vehicle infusion,
MAP and heart rate remained unchanged (MAP: 108±3 versus 106±2
mm Hg; heart rate: 366±18 versus 392±9 bpm). The pressor response to
Ang II infusion was associated with 40% increase in AM mRNA (vehicle,
1.0±0.07 versus Ang II, 1.4±0.13 arbitrary densitometric units,
P<0.05) and 53% increase in ir-AM levels (vehicle,
0.17±0.01 versus Ang II, 0.26±0.02 fmol/mg, P<0.01) in
the left ventricles.
Effect of Losartan, Bosentan, and Their Combination on
Hemodynamic Variables
To characterize the role of ET-1 and Ang II in the
pressure-overloadinduced AM gene activation, we studied the effects
of mixed ETA/ETB receptor
antagonist bosentan and AT1 receptor
antagonist losartan on the increase of cardiac AM
mRNA and ir-AM levels produced by 2 hours of AVP infusion. Both
bosentan and losartan were administered at a concentration of
10 mg/kg IV as a bolus injection. Previously, we have shown that in
conscious rats, bosentan at a dose of 10 mg/kg IV completely blocks any
increase in MAP produced by big ET-1, and losartan at a
concentration of 10 mg/kg completely blocks any increase in MAP
produced by Ang II infusion.27 In agreement with the
previous study in normotensive rats,24 bolus injections of
losartan and bosentan as well as their combination led to a
significant decrease in MAP within 2 hours (Table). In contrast,
infusion of AVP increased MAP similarly in vehicle- and drug-treated
conscious rats (Table). In addition, heart rate decreased
similarly in the vehicle-treated, bosentan-treated,
losartan-treated, and bosentan plus
losartanpretreated animals (Table). These results show
that drug injections did not alter the hemodynamic
response evoked by AVP infusion, thus allowing us to examine the direct
action of load versus a requirement for Ang II and ET-1 to mediate
pressure overloadinduced upregulation of cardiac AM gene
expression.
Effects of Losartan, Bosentan, and Their Combination on
Cardiac AM Gene Expression
Administration of losartan, bosentan, and their
combination did not significantly influence baseline AM mRNA and ir-AM
levels in the endocardial (Figure 4A) or
epicardial (Figure 4B) layer of the left ventricle. The
elevation of AM mRNA levels in response to pressure overload produced
by 2 hours of AVP infusion was similar in both left
ventricular endocardial and epicardial layers in vehicle-
and drug-treated conscious rats, whereas no changes in left
ventricular ir-AM concentrations were found (Figure 4, A and B). As shown in Figure 4C, injections of
bosentan and losartan alone had no effect on AM mRNA and ir-AM
levels in left atria, whereas a 37% decrease (P<0.05) in
baseline left atrial AM mRNA levels was seen in conscious rats treated
with both bosentan and losartan (Figure 4C).
Losartan, bosentan, and their combination did not significantly
affect the increase of left atrial AM mRNA levels in response to 2
hours of AVP infusion when compared with the vehicle group.
Furthermore, left atrial ir-AM levels decreased in vehicle- and
drug-treated animals, although this change was not statistically
significant in losartan-treated animals (Figure 4C). Of
note, the increase in left atrial AM mRNA levels in response to AVP was
greater in losartan-pretreated than in bosentan-pretreated
animals (4.1-fold versus 2.0-fold, P<0.05, Students
t test) (Figure 4C).

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Figure 4. Effects of intravenous administration of bosentan, losartan, and their combination on left ventricular endocardial (A) and epicardial (B) and left atrial (C) AM mRNA and ir-AM levels in conscious rats at 2 hours. mRNA results are expressed as ratio to GAPDH, as determined by Northern blot analysis. B indicates bosentan; L, losartan. Data are mean±SEM. For number of experiments in each group, see Table. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, AVP, B+AVP, L+AVP, or B+L+AVP vs vehicle, L, B, or B+L; P<0.05, L+B vs vehicle (Students t test).
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Plasma AM Concentrations
In contrast to the marked increase in cardiac AM gene expression,
AVP infusion significantly raised plasma ir-AM concentrations only at 4
hours in conscious rats (49.7±7.7 versus 36.9±5.2 pmol/L,
P<0.05) (Figure 5A). The
administration of bosentan, losartan, and their combination had
no effect on the plasma ir-AM levels in the vehicle- and AVP-infused
conscious rats (Figure 5B).

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Figure 5. A, Effects of intravenous administration of AVP on plasma ir-AM levels in conscious rats. B, Effects of bosentan, losartan, and their combination on plasma ir-AM levels at 2 hours. B indicates bosentan; L, losartan. Data are mean±SEM. For number of experiments in each group, see Table. *P<0.05, AVP vs baseline (Students t test).
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Discussion
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Recent data show that in experimental congestive heart failure
produced by rapid ventricular pacing in dogs,
ventricular
AM is activated in the progression of
heart failure.
28 Furthermore,
a positive correlation
between left ventricular mass index
and left
ventricular AM concentrations suggests that
ventricular
hypertrophy may activate AM
gene expression.
20 In the present
study, we report
that ventricular AM gene expression is activated
at
a very early stage of pressure overload, well before the
development of
left ventricular hypertrophy, thus mimicking
the rapid induction of proto-oncogenes in response to
hemodynamic
stress.
1 Furthermore, pressure
overload significantly increased
left atrial AM gene expression, even
earlier than that in the
left ventricle. These results indicate that
cardiac AM gene
expression is a very rapid and sensitive marker of
increased
pressure overload and suggest that AM plays an important role
in cardiovascular regulation in concert with other
neurohumoral
mechanisms.
The mechanisms by which pressure overload is transduced by the cardiac
muscle cell and translated into myocyte hypertrophy are not
completely understood. Candidates include neurohormonal factors such as
Ang II, ET-1, and
-adrenergic agents.6 7 29 30 With the
use of cultured neonatal rat heart cells, it has been reported that
mechanical stretch is coupled with cellular release of Ang II and ET-1
and that they act as chemical mediators of stretch-induced myocyte
hypertrophy.31 32 Thus, Ang II acting through
the AT1 receptor and endogenous
cardiac production of ET-1 may play a functional role in
mechanical loadinduced cardiac gene expression and thus also mediate
the rapid induction of AM gene expression. In support of this, pressor
overload produced by administration of Ang II for 12 hours (this study)
and 2 weeks,22 respectively, in conscious rats increases
left ventricular weight and AM mRNA levels, and
administration of ET-1 can induce the increase of
ventricular AM mRNA levels within 2 hours in perfused rat
heart preparation.33 Our present results do not
support a role for ET-1 or Ang II in the induction of
ventricular or atrial AM gene expression because the mixed
ETA/ETB receptor
antagonist bosentan, the selective
AT1 receptor antagonist
losartan, or their combination had no effect on pressure
overloadinduced early activation of cardiac AM gene expression.
We also analyzed changes in cardiac AM gene expression under
basal conditions (without pressure overload) and found that the
combination of losartan and bosentan significantly decreased AM
mRNA levels in the left atrium, whereas losartan or bosentan
alone had no significant effect. Because the drug treatments decreased
MAP, and this decrease was greatest with the combination treatment of
losartan and bosentan, it is likely that the decreased pressure
load explains the decrease in left atrial AM mRNA levels. In addition,
atrial AM gene expression appears to be more sensitive than
ventricular AM gene expression to rapid alterations in
cardiac overload because drug treatments did not have any effect on
left ventricular AM mRNA levels.
Although the concentration of plasma AM has been shown to be
increased in patients with congestive heart failure and
hypertension,34 the main source of circulating AM is
unclear. A recent study with immohistochemical analysis showed
that ventricular myocytes, not nonmyocytes, may be
a major source of ventricular AM production in left
ventricular hypertrophy.20 In this
study, the cardiac AM mRNA levels gradually increased in a
time-dependent manner, whereas the plasma AM levels were not elevated
in pressure-overloaded rats compared with the control rats, except
after 4 hours of AVP infusion. This increase in circulating AM may be
due to the effect of pressure overload on the heart because left atrial
ir-AM levels decreased in AVP-infused animals after 2 hours. However,
ventricles may also contribute to circulating AM levels because
unchanged left ventricular AM peptide levels together with
increased AM mRNA levels could be explained by an increased rate of
release of AM from the ventricles promptly after its synthesis. The
elevated plasma levels at 4 hours may also reflect mechanical,
stress-stimulated AM production from systemic vascular
walls.35 In the myocardium, immunoreactivity
is located in the peripheral cytoplasm of cardiac
myocytes,36 and so far, no AM granules have been reported
in the myocardial cells. Therefore, cardiac AM secretion may be
constitutive, and during the early phase of pressure load, atria rather
than ventricles appear to contribute to the increase in circulating
AM.
The present results are consistent with the hypothesis that
AM may play a compensatory role in the maintenance of
intravascular volume and cardiac filling pressures during increased
cardiac workload, similar to atrial natriuretic peptide and
BNP.3 4 AM appears to be regulated in a pattern similar to
that of BNP, which is also synthesized both in atria and
ventricles.4 Because BNP mRNA levels increased more
prominently and earlier than AM mRNA levels, BNP appears to be a
slightly more sensitive marker for acutely increased cardiac pressure
load than AM. It is also noteworthy that left atrial AM and BNP mRNA
levels responded to cardiac overload more sensitively than those of
left ventricle and that the enhanced mRNA expression led to a
significant increase in ventricular BNP but not AM peptide
levels. This latter observation suggests that distinct pathways are
involved in the regulation of ventricular BNP and AM
peptide levels. Because plasma ir-AM levels increased only slightly
during pressure overload, AM may function as a paracrine and/or
autocrine factor in the heart rather than as a circulating hormone.
Indeed, AM enhances cardiac contractility through
cAMP-independent mechanisms15 and inhibits Ang
IIstimulated hypertrophic response in cardiac
myocytes.16 The use of specific AM receptor
antagonists and transgenic approaches are necessary to
determine the exact role of AM in the regulation of cardiac
function.
In conclusion, our data show that cardiac wall stretch produced by
pressure overload is a major stimulus for the early induction of AM
gene expression both in the ventricle and atrium. We also found for the
first time that the induction of cardiac AM gene expression is Ang II
independent and ET-1 independent, suggesting that local ET-1 and Ang II
production do not act as triggering factors to an early
increase in cardiac gene expression. The increase in
plasma-immunoreactive AM levels was small, suggesting a paracrine
and/or autocrine role rather than endocrine function for AM in
regulation of cardiovascular function during the acute
phase of pressure overload. The rapid upregulation of cardiac AM gene
expression may represent a new mechanism that buffers the heart
against pressure overloadinduced hypertrophy.
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Acknowledgments
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This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (Health
Research
Council), Sigfrid Juselius Foundation, Finnish Foundation for
Cardiovascular Research, Mauno Kuistila Foundation,
Aarne
Koskelo Foundation, Ida Montin Foundation, Paavo Ilmari
Ahvenainen
Foundation, and the Duodecim Society. We thank Marja
Arbelius,
Tuula Lumijärvi, Ulla Pohjoisaho, Sirpa Rutanen, and
Kati
Viitala for expert technical assistance.
Received June 27, 2000;
first decision July 20, 2000;
accepted July 25, 2000.
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