Of the four endogenous members of the natriuretic peptide family, only atrial natriuretic peptide has been demonstrated to have neuromodulatory effects. This study compares the neuromodulatory effects of atrial natriuretic peptide and a recently identified natriuretic peptide, C-type natriuretic peptide, in the rabbit isolated vas deferens. The ability of these peptides to alter cyclic nucleoti...

The meiotic cell cycle of mammalian oocytes starts during embryogenesis and then pauses until luteinizing hormone (LH) acts on the granulosa cells of the follicle surrounding the oocyte to restart the cell cycle. An essential event in this process is a decrease in cyclic GMP in the granulosa cells, and part of the cGMP decrease results from dephosphorylation and inactivation of the natriuretic ...

We compared the effects of NO donors and cGMP analogues on the growth of aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) derived from newborn, adult (aged 3 months), and old (aged 2 years) rats. We found that the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine failed to block DNA synthesis in SMCs from old rats but was effective in SMCs from newborn and adult rats. However, cGMP analogues were inhibitory in all 3 S...

Angiotensin II and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) play important and opposite roles in the control of water and salt intake, with angiotensin II promoting the intake of both and ANP inhibiting the intake of both. Following blood volume expansion, baroreceptor input to the brainstem induces the release of ANP within the hypothalamus that releases oxytocin (OT) that acts on its receptors in the...

In killifish renal proximal tubules, endothelin-1 (ET-1), acting through a basolateral ET(B) receptor, nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and PKC, decreases cell-to-lumen organic anion transport mediated by the multidrug resistance protein isoform 2 (Mrp2). In the present study, we examined the roles of guanylyl cyclase and cGMP in ET signaling to Mrp2. Using confocal microscopy and quantitative imag...

We compared the effects of NO donors and cGMP analogues on the growth of aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) derived from newborn, adult (aged 3 months), and old (aged 2 years) rats. We found that the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine failed to block DNA synthesis in SMCs from old rats but was effective in SMCs from newborn and adult rats. However, cGMP analogues were inhibitory in all 3 S...

1. The activities of the enzymes involved in the metabolism of cyclic nucleotides were studied in sarcolemma prepared front guinea-pig heart ventricle; the enzyme activities reported here were linear under the assay conditions. 2. Adenylate cyclase was maximally activated by 3mM-NaF; NaF increased the Km for ATP (from 0.042 to 0.19 mM) but decreased the Ka for Mg2+ (from 2.33 to 0.9 mM). In the...

OBJECTIVE It has been assumed that some behavioral changes associated with repeated exposure to dopaminergic psychostimulant drugs might be explained by changes in activity of dopamine receptors, including the dopamine D(1) receptor, which is linked by a stimulatory G protein to the effector enzyme adenylyl cyclase. To establish whether dopamine D(1) receptor function might be altered in human ...