A proteasome inhibitor lessens the increased aortic endothelin-1 content in deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt...

Deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt-treated rats developed marked hypertension after 4 weeks with an increase in aortic endothelin-1. Treatment of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats with a proteasome inhibitor, N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Ile-Glu(O-t-Bu)-Ala-leucinal, significantly reduced the elevation in systolic blood pressure and the effect was accompanied by a decrease in aortic endothelin- content. Thus, a proteasome-dependent proteolytic pathway appears to play an important role in the enhanced production of endothelin-1 in blood vessels and the consequent increase in blood pressure in this model of hypertension.