Overexpression of endothelin-1 and enhanced growth of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells from fawn-hooded rats

Increased production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been detected in lungs of fawn-hooded rats (FHR) with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. Accelerated pulmonary artery (PA) smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation contributes to vascular remodeling in these rats. We hypothesized that PA SMC would be an important site of enhanced ET-1 expression in FHR lung, that these SMC would have increased growth compared with cells from a normotensive strain, and that this locally produced ET-1 would contribute to the increased growth of these cells. We found that isolated FHR PASMC overexpressed preproET-1 mRNA and produced more ET-1 peptide compared with cells from normotensive Sprague-Dawley control rats (SDR). PA SMC from FHR had increased growth compared with control cells under conditions of serum withdrawal (0.1%), submaximal serum stimulation (0.3%; a condition previously found to be required for detection of growth in response to the comitogen, ET-1), and maximal serum stimulation (10%). Enhanced growth of FHR PA SMC in the presence of 0.3% serum, but not under the other test conditions, was inhibited by the ETA receptor antagonist, BQ-123. In summary, PA SMC from rats with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension overproduce ET-1. This overproduction contributes to the enhanced growth of FHR PA SMC in the presence of 0.3% serum. These cells also possess other unique growth characteristics that are independent of ET-1. Together, these ET-1-dependent and -independent growth properties likely contribute to the hyperplasia of FHR PA SMC found in vivo.