Regulation of adrenomedullin production in rat endothelial cells

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a potent vasorelaxant peptide recently identified in extracts of pheochromocytoma. We have found that AM is actively secreted from endothelial cell (EC) and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC). To elucidate the function of AM secreted from EC, the effects of 43 substances on secretion of AM from cultured rat EC were examined in this study. We first confirmed that synthesized AM was not stored but constitutively secreted from EC, indicating that the amount secreted could be used as an index of AM synthesis in EC. EC secreted AM at a rate 5.8 times higher than VSMC, and AM gene transcription in EC significantly contributed to the total aortic AM messenger RNA. Tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1, and lipopolysaccharide augmented AM secretion from EC, showing cooperative effects, which suggests that AM secreted from EC participates in the induction of hypotension in septic shock. Transforming growth factor beta1 and FCS suppressed AM secretion but stimulated endothelin-1 (ET-1) secretion. Thrombin potently stimulated AM secretion from EC but suppressed it from VSMC. Thyroid hormone and phorbol ester increased AM and ET-1 secretion but to a lesser extent. Interferon-gamma inhibited AM secretion from EC, whereas oxidized LDL stimulated it. Regulation of AM production in EC is found to be similar to that of VSMC with several exceptions, but AM and ET-1 production in EC are deduced to be controlled independently and by different mechanisms. AM stimulates cAMP production in EC, though receptors expressed on cultured rat EC are not specific to AM but to calcitonin gene-related peptide. Based on these findings, AM production in EC is thought to be regulated by a variety of substances coming from blood and neighboring cells, and the secreted AM is deduced to dilate blood vessels as an endothelium-derived relaxing factor competing with ET-1.