Specificity of C-Type and Atrial Natriuretic Peptides in Human Blood Vessels

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We investigated the actions of the two structurally similar but genetically distinct endothelium-derived vasoactive natriuretic peptides, C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), upon isolated human internal mammary arteries and saphenous veins. Based upon previous studies in canine arteries and veins, we hypothesized that CNP would selectively cause relaxation of human veins while ANP would be selective for human arteries. Rings with and without endothelium of human internal mammary arteries and saphenous veins from patients under going coronary artery bypass grafting were suspended for measurement of isometric force in an organ chamber. CNP caused significant concentration-dependent relaxations in saphenous veins with and without endothelium contracted with phenylephrine (10−6 M). In marked contrast, ANP caused no relaxation in saphenous veins either with or without endothelium. In rings of internal mammary arteries, ANP caused significant concentration-dependent relaxations in internal mammary arteries with and without endothelium contracted with phenylephrine (10−6 M), while CNP induced relaxations which were less than those observed to ANP. These results demonstrate that CNP relaxes both human saphenous veins and internal mammary arteries. In contrast, ANP is a relaxing factor of isolated human internal mammary arteries but not of human saphenous veins. These studies are consistent with distinct biological roles for CNP and ANP in human vessels.

This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit: