Ehrenreich H, Kehrl J H, Anderson R W, Rieckmann P, Vitkovic L, Coligan J E, Fauci A S
Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Brain Res. 1991 Jan 4;538(1):54-8. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(91)90375-6.
Primary rat astrocytes were found by immunohistochemistry to display positive staining for endothelin-3, located predominantly in the perinuclear area. The ability of these cells to produce and release endothelin-3 was confirmed by a combination of reverse-phase HPLC and radioimmunoassay, specific for endothelin-3, which demonstrated immunoreactive peptide in cellular extracts and astrocyte-conditioned medium. In addition, astrocytes were shown to possess a single class of binding sites for endothelin with comparable high affinity for endothelin-1, -2 and -3. These results suggest that astrocytes, by virtue of their ability to produce and secrete endothelin-3, serve as a potential extravascular source of intracerebral vasoregulation capable of influencing regional cerebral blood flow.
