Adenylate cyclase activities of vascular smooth muscle in early and established DOCA/salt hypertensive rats.

It has been demonstrated that the adenylate cyclase activity of vascular smooth muscle regulates its tonus. The present study was undertaken to examine adenylate cyclase activity in early and established deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)/salt hypertensive rats. Early and established DOCA/salt hypertensive rats were prepared by injecting 30 mg of DOCA weekly for 3 and 10 weeks, respectively, into male Wistar rats given drinking water with 1% saline. The membrane protein fraction medium containing the protein, 50 microM isoproterenol, 100 microM GTP, 50 microM forskolin or 25 microM calmodulin was applied. The adenylate cyclase activity was determined by a modified method developed in our laboratory using double isotope counting. The adenylate cyclase activity in the early DOCA/salt hypertensive rats was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) than that in the control rats in the basal condition, which was unaffected by additions of isoproterenol, GTP or forskolin. There was no significant difference in basal adenylate cyclase activity between the established DOCA/salt hypertensive and control rats. The adenylate cyclase activities in the established DOCA/salt hypertensive rats were significantly lower with GTP (p less than 0.02) and forskolin (p less than 0.01) as compared with the control rats. Calmodulin elevated the adenylate cyclase activity significantly (p less than 0.05) in the established DOCA/salt hypertensive rats as well as in the control rats. However, enzyme activity with calmodulin in the established DOCA/salt hypertensive rats was significantly lower (p less than 0.05) than that in the control rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)