Endothelin: a new inhibitor of renin release.

Endothelin is a recently-discovered vasoconstrictor peptide which is produced by endothelium and acts on vascular smooth muscle cells. At present its actions on other organs or cells are unknown. We studied the effect of endothelin on renin release in a dynamic superfusion system of dispersed rat juxtaglomerular (JG) cells. Endothelin in concentrations of 10(-11) M or more inhibited renin release dose-dependently and this inhibitory action vanished in the absence of extracellular Ca. It is suggested that endothelin is an inhibitory regulator of renin secretion from JG cells and its action is Ca-dependent.