Truncated atrial natriuretic peptide analogs. Comparison between receptor binding and stimulation of cyclic GMP accumulation in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells.

A series of truncated atrial natriuretic peptide analogs were examined as a means of defining the structural requirements for receptor occupancy and stimulation of cyclic GMP accumulation in bovine aortic smooth muscle cells. It was determined that deletion of amino acids from the carboxyl and/or amino termini of the peptides diminished their ability to increase cyclic GMP levels. Deletion of amino acids from the carboxyl terminus had the greatest effect, and atrial natriuretic peptide analogs lacking the carboxyl-terminal phenylalanyl-arginyl-tyrosine tripeptide were 100-1000-fold less active than parent compounds in stimulating intracellular cyclic GMP accumulation. In marked contrast to the cyclic GMP effects, deletion of amino- and/or carboxyl-terminal amino acids had only minor effects on the affinity of the peptides for specific smooth muscle cell-associated receptors. Peptide analogs lacking the phenylalanyl-arginyl-tyrosine tripeptide bound to receptors with an affinity only 1.1-5-fold weaker than the parent compounds. Thus, there was no correlation between apparent receptor binding affinity of atrial natriuretic peptide analogs and potency of these same peptides for stimulating intracellular cyclic GMP accumulation. Furthermore, analogs that bound to receptors and failed to elicit significant cyclic GMP responses did not antagonize or modulate increases in cyclic GMP induced by parent compounds. These data are most consistent with the existence of multiple subpopulations of atrial natriuretic peptide receptors on aortic smooth muscle cells.