Parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related protein (PTHrP) receptor and its messenger ribonucleic acid in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells and UMR osteoblast-like cells: cell-specific regulation by angiotensin-II and PTHrP.

PTH-related protein (PTHrP) is produced in vascular smooth muscle, where it is believed to act as a local vasorelaxant by activating either the classical PTH or a unique PTHrP receptor. We used a newly cloned complementary DNA encoding the rat PTH/PTHrP receptor to study the expression of its messenger RNA (mRNA) in primary aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and in UMR-106 osteoblast-like cells under basal conditions and in response to treatment with agonists. Both cell types expressed a 2.4-kilobase PTH/PTHrP receptor mRNA transcript and exhibited hormone-induced desensitization of PTHrP-(1-34)NH2-stimulated cAMP. In VSMC, angiotensin-II, which induces PTHrP expression, also rapidly (30 min) desensitized the cAMP response and down-regulated (75-90%) receptor mRNA within 1 h. Treatment of cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (0.1 microM) mimicked these effects, whereas neither PTHrP-(1-34)NH2, forskolin, nor (Bu)2cAMP altered receptor mRNA expression. By contrast, in UMR-106 cells, PTHrP-(1-34)NH2 induced time- and dose-dependent decreases in receptor mRNA that were preceded by pronounced desensitization (cAMP and ligand binding) of cell surface receptors. These effects were mimicked by (Bu)2cAMP and forskolin, but not by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, suggesting that both receptor mRNA down-regulation and receptor desensitization in UMR cells were mediated through a protein kinase-A pathway. We suggest that VSMC and UMR cells express a common receptor, which is subject to cell-specific regulation. Such diversity in the PTH/PTHrP receptor regulatory mechanisms provides a means for restricting the length and duration of the cellular response to hormone in a cell/tissue-specific manner.