Heterologous down-regulation of vascular atrial natriuretic peptide receptors by phorbol esters.

Using cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), the effect of protein kinase C activation on rat atrial natriuretic peptide (rANP) receptors and its effector system was studied. Tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA) induced a time- and temperature-dependent decrease of 125I-rANP binding to VSMC. TPA and phorbol dibutyrate inhibited the binding in a dose-related manner, whereas biologically inactive beta-phorbol was ineffective. Pretreatment of VSMC with TPA resulted in a marked reduction (50-70%) of rANP binding capacity without a significant change of its binding affinity. TPA pretreatment also induced attenuation of rANP-induced cGMP generation without affecting its basal levels. These data suggest that protein kinase C may be involved in the mechanism of heterologous down-regulation of vascular ANP receptors/guanylate cyclase system.