title: Human vascular smooth muscle cells express a urate transporter.
abstract: An elevated serum uric acid is associated with the development of hypertension and renal disease. Renal regulation of urate excretion is largely controlled by URAT1 (SLC22A12), a member of the organic anion transporter superfamily. This study reports the specific expression of URAT1 on human aortic vascular smooth muscle cells, as assessed by reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot analysis. Expression of URAT1 was localized to the cell membrane. Evidence that the URAT1 transporter was functional was provided by the finding that uptake of 14C-urate was significantly inhibited in the presence of probenecid, an organic anion transporter inhibitor. It is proposed that URAT1 may provide a mechanism by which uric acid enters the human vascular smooth muscle cell, a finding that may be relevant to the role of uric acid in cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Hypertension, and Transplantation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. regnkpr@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: Yuri Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Sautin
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Endou
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology; D001692:Biological Transport; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D027361:Organic Anion Transporters / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D027701:Organic Cation Transport Proteins; D011339:Probenecid / Q000494:pharmacology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D014528:Uricosuric Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D027361:Organic Anion Transporters; D027701:Organic Cation Transport Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C491241:SLC22A12 protein, human; D014528:Uricosuric Agents; D014527:Uric Acid; D011339:Probenecid