AE0047-mediated calcium channel blocking in vascular smooth muscles

1. This experiment was designed to pharmacologically characterize a novel calcium channel blocker, AE0047. 2. After 1-hr treatment with each drug (10(-6) M), K(+)-induced contraction in rat aortic strip was clearly depressed by nifedipine and manidipine and slightly depressed by AE0047. After a wash out of the preparation in drug-free medium, the inhibition of K(+)-induced contraction by nifedipine or manidipine was abolished or unchanged, respectively. In contrast, AE0047-produced inhibition was reinforced with time after removal of the drug. 3. A cell membrane depolarization-induced 45Ca uptake into tissue was depressed completely by nifedipine, but, if it was washed out, merely 20% inhibition of control remained. AE0047-produced inhibition became prominent after drug removal. Manidipine did not have the same inhibitory effect after wash out. 4. A receptor-binding study indicated that affinity of AE0047 and manidipine for the dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca channel receptor was lower than that of nifedipine. AE0047, unlike nifedipine and manidipine, inhibited [3H]PN200-110 binding more strongly when a 4-hr preincubation was used than without extended incubation. 5. The drug molecule of AE0047 was highly partitioned into the lipid bilayer of the synaptosome in canine cerebral cortices. In the synaptic membrane and liposomes, both prepared from canine cerebral cortices, the respective partition coefficients of the drug were 6997 +/- 2309 and 422 +/- 28 against 1395 +/- 161 and 24 +/- 2 of nitrendipine. 6. AE0047 showed slower onset of inhibition against K(+)-induced contraction and enhanced Ca influx compared with manidipine and nifedipine. These results may suggest that AE0047 requires a long period of time to occupy the dihydropyridine-sensitive sites within the Ca channel, which was detected by decreased specific [3H]PN200-110 binding, and to inhibit K(+)-induced Ca influx into rat aorta.