Dehydroepiandrosterone inhibits I and its window current in voltage-dependent and -independent mechanisms in arterial smooth muscle cells.

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is an adrenal steroid hormone, which has the highest serum concentration among steroid hormones with DHEA sulfate (DHEAS). DHEA possesses an inhibitory action on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the first pentose-phosphate pathway enzyme that reduces NADP to NADPH. DHEA induced relaxation of high K-induced contraction in rat arterial strips, whereas DHEAS barely induced it. We studied the effects of DHEA on L-type Ca current ( I) of A7r5 arterial smooth muscle cells and compared the mechanism of inhibition with that produced by the 6-aminonicotinamide (6-AN) competitive inhibitor of G6PD. DHEA moderately inhibited I that was elicited from a holding potential (HP) of -80 mV [voltage-independent inhibition (VIDI)] and accelerated decay of I during the depolarization pulse [voltage-dependent inhibition (VDI)]. DHEA-induced VDI decreased peak I at depolarized HPs. By applying repetitive depolarization pulses from multiple HPs, novel HP-dependent steady-state inactivation curves ( f-HP) were constructed. DHEA shifted f-HP to the left and inhibited the window current, which was recorded at depolarized HPs and obtained as a product of current-voltage relationship and f-HP. The IC value of I inhibition was much higher than serum concentration. DHEA-induced VDI was downregulated by the dialysis of guanosine 5'- O-(2-thiodiphosphate), which shifted f-voltage to the right before the application of DHEA. 6-AN gradually and irreversibly inhibited I by VIDI, suggesting that the inhibition of G6PD is involved in DHEA-induced VIDI. In 6-AN-pretreated cells, DHEA induced additional inhibition by increasing VIDI and generating VDI. The inhibition of G6PD underlies DHEA-induced VIDI, and DHEA additionally induces VDI as described for Ca channel blockers. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Dehydroepiandrosterone, the most abundantly released adrenal steroid hormone with dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, inhibited L-type Ca current and its window current in aortic smooth muscle cells. The IC value of inhibition decreased with the depolarization of holding potential to 15 µM at -20 mV. The inhibition occurred in a voltage-dependent manner as described for Ca channel blockers and in a voltage-independent manner because of the inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.