Action of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) on cyclic nucleotides in glomeruli of rat renal cortex

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) is known to influence glomerular function and may have an important role in the pathogenesis of glomerulopathies. Because serotonin acts in nonrenal tissues through mediation of cyclic nucleotides, we investigated in vitro its effect on cAMP and cyclic guanosine monophasphate (cGMP) in tissue slices and isolated glomeruli from rat kidney. Serotonin increased cAMP 161 +/- 35% but not cGMP in renal cortex; it had no effect on cyclic nucleotides in medulla and papilla. In isolated glomeruli, serotonin elicited a dose-dependent (in the range of 10-7 to 10-4 M) increase in cAMP; the maximum increase over basal values was 376 +/- 45%. Serotonin increased cAMP either in the presence or in the absence of a cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor. In tubular fraction, serotonin elevated cAMP to a much lesser degree (82 +/- 15%). Neither in glomeruli nor in tubules did cGMP concentrations change in response to serotonin, but carbamylcholine, a known cGMP agonist, significantly increased cGMP concentrations. The increase in cAMP in response to serotonin was blocked (greater than 85% inhibition) by equimolar concentrations of serotonin antagonists methysergide and cinanserine. Results of this study demonstrate that interaction of serotonin with receptors in the kidney, particularly in the glomeruli, cause a striking increase in cAMP concentrations without detectable changes in cGMP concentrations. These findings suggest that serotonin, either synthesized in the kidney or released locally from platelets aggregated in glomeruli (for example, in association with immunopathologic injury) may exert of modulate its physiologic or pathologic effects via mediation of cAMP.