Processing of angiotensin II (A-II) and (Sar1,Ala8)A-II by cultured bovine adrenocortical cells.

Bovine adrenocortical cells, cultured in a chemically defined medium, were used to study the fate of [125I] iodoangiotensin II ([125I]iodo-A-II) and its antagonist (Sar1,Ala8)A-II ([125I]iodo-Saralasin). The binding of both ligands was time and temperature dependent. The maximum specific binding at 37 C, which was reached within 1 h, was followed by a decline with a half-life of about 2 h and 8 h for [125I]iodo-A-II and [125I]iodo-Saralasin, respectively. The decrease of the specific binding was parallel to the appearance in the medium of degraded ligand. At 4 C, the binding of [125I]iodo-A-II was stable for 12 h and no degradation of ligand occurred. Under several experimental conditions, about 70% of the total [125I]iodo-A-II bound was internalized, whereas, in the case of [125I]iodo-Saralasin, less than 25% of the total bound ligand was internalized. These differences in the binding kinetics between A-II and its antagonist were mainly the differences in the rate of internalization of the bound ligands, more rapid for [125I]iodo-A-II (t1/2 approximately equal to 10 min) than for [125I]iodo-Saralasin (t1/2 = 90 min). On the other hand, the rate of degradation of internalized ligand was similar for both ligands (t1/2 = 15 min). Ionophore monensin enhanced the total cellular uptake of both ligands by increasing the amount of internalized ligands. Monensin did not modify the rate of internalization of the two ligands but markedly decreased their rate of degradation (t1/2 approximately equal to 60 min). These results indicate that both A-II and its antagonist are internalized and degraded by adrenocortical cells, but the rate of internalization of the antagonist is lower than that of the agonist. They also show that receptor-mediated endocytosis is the main pathway by which A-II is rapidly degraded by adrenocortical cells. Since A-II receptors are present in many tissues, the receptor-mediated degradation could explain the very short half-life in plasma of this hormone.