Effects of endothelin-1 on its receptor concentration and thymidine incorporation in calf adrenal zona glomerulosa cells: a comparative study with phorbol esters.

Endothelin (ET-1) is a 21-amino acid peptide with potent vasopressor and vasoconstrictive properties. Specific, high affinity receptors for ET-1 have been found in the adrenal gland. The stimulation by ET-1 of aldosterone secretion in cultured calf zona glomerulosa cells was shown to depend on the serum used for culturing and was not related to the growth-promoting effects of serum or the response to another secretagogue, such as angiotensin-II. In this study, binding of [125I]ET-1 to crude membrane preparations from calf adrenal cortex slices showed that ET-1 binding was greater in the outer slices, corresponding to the zona glomerulosa, than in inner slices, corresponding to the zona fasciculata. ET-1 stimulated aldosterone, but not cortisol, biosynthesis. Adrenal zona glomerulosa preincubated with ET-1 resulted in homologous down-regulation. Since ET-1 action involves activation of protein kinase-C (PKC), we studied the effect of a phorbol ester (PMA) on the down-regulation of ET-1 receptors. PMA decreased the number of cell surface receptors, and its effect was prevented by pretreatment with the PKC inhibitors H-7 and sphyngosine. Agonist-mediated down-regulation could not be blocked by pretreatment with PKC inhibitors, suggesting that PKC is involved in phorbol ester-mediated, but not agonist-mediated down-regulation of ET-1 receptors. Both effectors increased the endocytosis rate constant as well as the steady state cytosolic membrane-bound ratio for ET-1 receptors, suggesting that the decrease in the number of cell surface receptors is at least partially due to an increased internalization of the hormone-receptor complex. ET-1 and PMA decreased the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into calf zona glomerulosa cell cultures. We conclude that ET-1 and PMA have similar effects on glomerulosa cells, producing down-regulation of ET-1 receptors and an antimitogenic effect, but these actions are through different mechanisms.