Takuwa Y
Department of Cardiovascular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Endocr J. 1993 Oct;40(5):489-506. doi: 10.1507/endocrj.40.489.
Endothelin family peptides are now known to exert diverse biological effects on a wide variety of tissues and cell types through at least two subtypes of receptors. In vascular systems, both ETA and ETB endothelin receptors present in vascular smooth muscle mediate the vasoconstrictor and mitogenic activities of the peptides, while ETB receptors in the endothelium mediate the vasodilator and antiplatelet activities. Endothelins also affect hormone secretion from a variety of endocrine organs including anterior and posterior pituitary, atria and adrenals. Endothelins activate the Ca(2+)-messenger system which involves both calmodulin and protein kinase C to exert their biological activities in almost all cell types examined, and appear to work in a paracrine and autocrine fashion. However, physiological and pathophysiological roles of endothelins are still incompletely understood and further studies are clearly required for elucidation of biological significance of this peptide family.
目前已知内皮素家族肽可通过至少两种受体亚型对多种组织和细胞类型发挥多种生物学效应。在血管系统中，血管平滑肌中存在的ETA和ETB内皮素受体介导这些肽的血管收缩和促有丝分裂活性，而内皮中的ETB受体介导血管舒张和抗血小板活性。内皮素还影响多种内分泌器官的激素分泌，包括垂体前叶和后叶、心房和肾上腺。内皮素激活涉及钙调蛋白和蛋白激酶C的Ca(2+)信使系统，从而在几乎所有检测的细胞类型中发挥其生物学活性，并且似乎以旁分泌和自分泌方式起作用。然而，内皮素的生理和病理生理作用仍未完全了解，显然需要进一步研究以阐明该肽家族的生物学意义。
