title: Hypoxia-induced pulmonary endothelin-1 expression is unaltered by nitric oxide.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) attenuates hypoxia-induced endothelin (ET)-1 expression in cultured umbilical vein endothelial cells. We hypothesized that NO similarly attenuates hypoxia-induced increases in ET-1 expression in the lungs of intact animals and reasoned that potentially reduced ET-1 levels may contribute to the protective effects of NO against the development of pulmonary hypertension during chronic hypoxia. As expected, hypoxic exposure (24 h, 10% O(2)) increased rat lung ET-1 peptide and prepro-ET-1 mRNA levels. Contrary to our hypothesis, inhaled NO (iNO) did not attenuate hypoxia-induced increases in pulmonary ET-1 peptide or prepro-ET-1 mRNA levels. Because of this surprising finding, we also examined the effects of NO on hypoxia-induced increases in ET peptide levels in cultured cell experiments. Consistent with the results of iNO experiments, administration of the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine to cultured bovine pulmonary endothelial cells did not attenuate increases in ET peptide levels resulting from hypoxic (24 h, 3% O(2)) exposure. In additional experiments, we examined the effects of NO on the activity of a cloned ET-1 promoter fragment containing a functional hypoxia inducible factor-1 binding site in reporter gene experiments. Whereas moderate hypoxia (24 h, 3% O(2)) had no effect on ET-1 promoter activity, activity was increased by severe hypoxic (24 h, 0.5% O(2)) exposure. ET-1 promoter activity after S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine administration during severe hypoxia was greater than that in normoxic controls, although activity was reduced compared with that in hypoxic controls. These findings suggest that hypoxia-induced pulmonary ET-1 expression is unaffected by NO.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Physiology Group, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. searley@unm.edu
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Earley
authors.forename: Leif D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Nelin
authors.forename: Louis G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Chicoine
authors.forename: Benjimen R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000378:metabolism; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016232:Endothelins / Q000235:genetics; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism*; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors / Q000494:pharmacology; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000235:genetics; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D026423:S-Nitroso-N-Acetylpenicillamine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D019332:Endothelin-1; D016232:Endothelins; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors; D011498:Protein Precursors; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D026423:S-Nitroso-N-Acetylpenicillamine