Relative contribution of endothelin A and endothelin B receptors to vasoconstriction in small arteries from human heart and brain.

Endothelin (ET) has been implicated in cardiovascular disorders such as stroke and myocardial ischemia. Given the important role of the resistance vasculature in the control of blood flow, we investigated the ET receptors that mediate vasoconstriction in human small pial and coronary arteries supplying the brain and heart, respectively. ETA receptors were localized by autoradiography to the vascular smooth-muscle layer of pial, intracerebral, and intramyocardial arteries. In contrast, little ETB binding was observed. ET-1 was a more potent constrictor than ET-3 in both pial and coronary arteries. Biphasic ET-3 responses were obtained in four of 15 coronary arteries tested. The ETB agonist sarafotoxin S6c had little or no effect in these vessels. The nonpeptide, selective ETA receptor antagonist PD156707 caused a parallel shift to the right of the concentration-response curve to ET-1, yielding pA2 values of 9.17 +/- 0.07 and 8.38 +/- 0.17 in pial and coronary arteries, respectively. Slopes from Schild analysis were not significantly different from unity. These data suggest that ETA receptors predominate on the smooth-muscle layer of human small pial arteries. Coronary arteries also express mainly ETA receptors. However, a small population of contractile ETB receptors may also be present in some patients.