Camp evokes a rise in intracellular na+ mediated by na+ pump inhibition in rat aorta smooth muscle cells. Borin, Mikhail L. Department of Physiology and the Center for Vascular Biology and Hypertension, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, U.S.A.
APStracts 2:0154C, 1995.
The effect of cAMP on intracellular Na+ concentration ([Na+]i) was studied in primary cultured vascular smooth muscle cells from rat aorta. [Na+]i was measured using digital imaging of cells loaded with the Na+-sensitive fluorescent dye, SBFI. The cAMP level was raised by: i) the membrane-permeable cAMP derivative, 8-Br cAMP, ii) the combination of the adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin, and the phosphodiesterase inhibitor, IBMX, and iii) the [beta]-adrenoceptor agonist, isoproterenol. All three methods caused a dose-dependent continuous rise in [Na+]i during 40-60 min of observations. A rise in [Na+]i may be caused by stimulation of the Na+ influx and/or inhibition of Na+ efflux; therefore, the involvement of both mechanisms was studied. Elevation of the cAMP level had no effect on Na+ influx, measured as the rate of rise of [Na+]i when Na+ efflux was inhibited with 1 mM ouabain. In contrast, elevation of the cAMP level attenuated Na+ efflux, measured as the rate of decline of [Na+]i in Na+-loaded cells exposed to Na+-free medium. cAMP-induced inhibition of Na+ efflux was not observed when the Na+ pump was inhibited; therefore, cAMP inhibits the Na+ pump-mediated component of Na+ efflux. Agents that raise the cAMP level also inhibited, in a dose-dependent fashion, ouabain-sensitive 86Rb uptake in rat aorta rings. The latter observation confirms that the cAMP-induced inhibition of the Na+ pump occurs both in cultured cells and in the native tissue. Changes in cellular cAMP levels evoked by the test compounds were measured and correlated with changes in [Na+]i and Na+ pump activity: Both the increase in [Na+]i in cells and the inhibition of the Na+ pump in aorta rings showed a similar dependence on the net gain in cAMP. Taken together, the results suggest that, in rat aorta smooth muscle cells, elevation of the cAMP level inhibits the ouabain-sensitive Na+ pump and thus causes [Na+]i to rise.

Received 31 May 1994; accepted in final form 22 March 1995.
APS Manuscript Number C294-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on  4 April 1995.