ACE inhibitor and AT(1) antagonist blockade of deformation-induced gene expression in the rabbit jugular vein through B-2 receptor activation

Deformation-induced endothelin-1 synthesis in endothelial cells may contrib ute to the intimal hyperplasia of venous bypass grafts. ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor antagonists are capable of reducing vein graft disease. Therefore, the effects of these drugs on endothelial pr eproendothelin-1 (ppET-1) and smooth muscle endothelin B receptor (ETB-R) e xpression were investigated in isolated perfused segments of the rabbit jug ular vein. Pretreatment with ramiprilat (0.3 mu mol/L) or irbesartan (0.01 to 1 mu mol/L) had no effect on basal ppET-1 or ETB-R expression but marked ly attenuated the deformation-induced expression of these gene products, an d these effects were reversed by the B-2 receptor antagonist icatibant (Hoe 140) and by the NO synthase inhibitor N-G-nitro-L-arginine. Candesartan (1 mu mol/L) mimicked the inhibitory effect of irbesartan, Moreover, reporter gene analysis with a rat ppET-1 promoter-luciferase construct transiently transfected into porcine aortic cultured endothelial cells revealed that th e inhibitory effect of both ramiprilat and irbesartan on deformation-induce d ppET-1 expression is species independent and mediated at the level of tra nscription. In addition, RT-PCR analysis detected only AT(1) receptor expre ssion in the endothelium-intact rabbit jugular vein, and neither irbesartan nor ramiprilat affected endothelial NO synthase expression. Thus, ACE inhi bitors and AT(1) receptor antagonists are capable of suppressing deformatio n-induced gene expression in the vessel wall in both an autocrine (ppET-1) and a paracrine (ETB-R) manner via a common mechanism of action that consti tutes a B-2 receptor-mediated increase in endothelial NO release.