Receptors for adrenomedullin in human vascular endothelial cells

Accumulation of the intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) was measured in cultured endothelial cells of the human umbilical vein following the incubation with adrenomedullin, a newly discovered hypotensive peptide, to determine the presence of specific receptors for adrenomedullin. Adrenomedullin increased the intracellular cAMP in a dose-dependent fashion in the endothelial cells, and the EC50 value was as low as 10(-9) M. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) that has a homology to adrenomedullin in its amino-acid sequence also increased the intracellular cAMP with an EC50 value greater than 10(-7) M. The effect of CGRP was attenuated in the presence of CGRP-(8-37), a CGRP receptor antagonist. However, CGRP-(8-37) had no effect on the cAMP accumulation by adrenomedullin. These findings indicate that the cultured endothelial cells of human umbilical vein possess specific adrenomedullin receptors coupled with the adenylate cyclase activity that may have little affinity with CGRP.