ebelactone-b and Hypertension

A large variety of antihypertensive drugs, such as angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, diuretics, and others, are prescribed to hypertensive patients, with good control of the condition. In addition, all individuals are generally believed to be salt sensitive and, thus, severe restriction of salt intake is recommended to all. Nevertheless, the physiological defense mechanisms in the kidney against excess salt intake have not been well clarified. The present review article demonstrated that the renal (tissue) kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) is ideally situated within the nephrons of the kidney, where it functions to inhibit the reabsorption of NaCl through the activation of bradykinin (BK)-B2 receptors localized along the epithelial cells of the collecting ducts (CD). Kinins generated in the CD are immediately inactivated by two kidney-specific kinin-inactivating enzymes (kininases), carboxypeptidase Y-like exopeptidase (CPY), and neutral endopeptidase (NEP). Our work demonstrated that ebelactone B and poststatin are selective inhibitors of these kininases. The reduced secretion of the urinary kallikrein is linked to the development of salt-sensitive hypertension, whereas potassium ions and ATP-sensitive potassium channel blockers ameliorate salt-sensitive hypertension by accelerating the release of renal kallikrein. On the other hand, ebelactone B and poststatin prolong the life of kinins in the CD after excess salt intake, thereby leading to the augmentation of natriuresis and diuresis, and the ensuing suppression of salt-sensitive hypertension. In conclusion, accelerators of the renal kallikrein release and selective renal kininase inhibitors are both novel types of antihypertensive agents that may be useful for treatment of salt-sensitive hypertension.

Topics: Animals; Antihypertensive Agents; Disease Models, Animal; Enzyme Inhibitors; Humans; Hypertension; Kidney; Kinins; Lactones; Oligopeptides; Signal Transduction; Sodium Chloride, Dietary; Tissue Kallikreins

Tissue kallikrein and low molecular weight kininogen are localized in the particular cells of the connecting tubules, indicating that kinin is immediately generated in the lumina of the lower nephrons. The role of the renal kallikreinkinin system was studied using mutant kininogen-deficient Brown NorwayKatholiek (BN-Ka) rats, and compared with that in normal BN-Kitasato rats of the same strain. Mutant BN-Ka rats showed no visible changes, but they were very sensitive to excess sodium ingestion and to the tendency of sodium to accumulate in the body by aldosterone released by angiotensin II, so that sodium was accumulated in erythrocytes and cerebrospinal fluid in BN-Ka rats and hypertension was induced. After four days infusion of 0.3 M NaCl solution to conscious and unrestrained mutant BN-Ka rats, the sensitivity of the vascular smooth muscle to norepinephrine and angiotensin II increased 30-fold and 10-fold, respectively. Bradykinin was degraded by neutral endopeptidase (NEP) and carboxypeptidase Y-like exopeptidase (CPY) in rat and human urine. Daily oral administration of a selective inhibitor of CPY, ebelactone B, or that of NEP, BP1O2, prevented development of deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt hypertension in Sprague-Dawley rats. These results indicate that: 1) the renal kallikrein-kinin system allows excretion of excess sodium in the body, 2) decreased sodium excretion due to reduced excretion of urinary kallikrein in patients with essential hypertension or in genetically hypertensive rats may cause hypertension, and 3) urine kininase inhibitors such as ebelactone B may emerge as a new antihypertensive drug.

Topics: Animals; Antihypertensive Agents; Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; Desoxycorticosterone; Hypertension; Kallikrein-Kinin System; Kidney; Kininogens; Lactones; Rats; Rats, Inbred BN; Rats, Mutant Strains; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sodium

The effect of prolonged administration of a carboxypeptidase Y-like kininase inhibitor, ebelactone B (EB) (2-ethyl-3, 11-dihydroxy-4, 6, 8, 10, 12-pentamethyl-9-oxo-6-tetradecenoic 1, 3-lactone), on the development of deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertension was tested. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of non-treated 6-week-old Sprague-Dawley strain rats was gradually increased by DOCA-salt treatment from 137+/-2 mmHg (n=11) to 195+/-7 mmHg at 10 weeks of age. With daily oral administration of lisinopril (5 mg kg(-1), twice a day), which is an inhibitor of angiotensin converting enzyme, a major kininase in plasma, the development of hypertension was not suppressed. By contrast, administration of EB (5 mg kg(-1), twice a day), completely inhibited the development of hypertension (SBP: 146+/-1 mmHg, n=5, 10 weeks old). The reduced SBP at 10 weeks of age was equal to the SBP before any treatment (142+/-1 mmHg, n=5). Direct determination of mean blood pressure (MBP) in conscious, unrestrained rats confirmed that MBP elevation was completely inhibited by EB. Continuous subcutaneous infusion (5 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) of HOE140, a bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist, restored the elevation of SBP, which was suppressed by EB. The weights of left ventricle of DOCA-salt treated rats 10-weeks-old (0.36+/-0.02 g 100 g body weight(-1), n=11) was significantly reduced by EB (0.27+/-0.01, n=5), as were the sodium levels in serum, cerebrospinal fluid and erythrocyte. These findings suggested that EB is effective in preventing salt-related hypertension presumably by eliminating sodium retention.

Topics: Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Animals; Antihypertensive Agents; Blood Pressure; Bradykinin; Bradykinin Receptor Antagonists; Carboxypeptidases; Cathepsin A; Desoxycorticosterone; Drinking; Heart; Heart Ventricles; Hypertension; Kallikreins; Kidney; Kinins; Lactones; Lisinopril; Male; Organ Size; Protease Inhibitors; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; Thiorphan; Time Factors; Urination; Water-Electrolyte Balance

Role of renal kallikrein-kinin system has been studied using mutant Brown-Norway Katholiek (BN-Ka) rats, in which both high- and low-molecular weight kininogens were almost absent in plasma and kinin in urine was mainly not detectable. Mutant BN-Ka rats were very sensitive to increased salt intake, resulting in raised systemic blood pressure that is linked to reduced urinary excretion of sodium, when compared with normal BN-Kitasato (BN-Ki) rats. Consequently, sodium accumulated in erythrocytes and cerebrospinal fluid in mutant BN-Ka rats. Subcutaneous infusion of angiotensin II (20 mg/day/rat) also enhanced the concentration of sodium in erythrocytes and in cerebrospinal fluid and increased the systemic pressure by releasing aldosterone. A 4-day infusion of 0.3 M sodium solution (6 ml/kg/h) to the abdominal aorta of conscious and un-restrained mutant BN-Ka rats increased the pressor responses of the arterioles to norepinephrine and angiotensin II (i.a.) by 30- and 10-fold, respectively. Infusion of ebelactone B, (a selective inhibitor of carboxypeptidase Y-like exopeptidase, a kininase in rat urine), to normal BN-Ki rats during induction of hypertension with DOCA and salt, resulted in the reduction of the raised blood pressure, indicating that a site of action of kinins was at the luminal membrane of the renal tubule cells. Our results support the view that the role of renal kallikrein-kinin system is to excrete 'excess sodium' and a reduction in the generation of renal kinins may be a factor in the development of hypertension as a result of the sodium accumulation in the body.

Topics: Aldosterone; Angiotensin II; Animals; Antihypertensive Agents; Arterioles; Blood Pressure; Bradykinin; Disease Models, Animal; Hypertension; Infusions, Intra-Arterial; Injections, Subcutaneous; Kallikrein-Kinin System; Kidney Tubules; Kininogens; Lactones; Molecular Weight; Norepinephrine; Rats; Rats, Inbred BN; Rats, Inbred SHR; Rats, Inbred WKY; Sodium; Sodium Chloride; Sodium, Dietary

Kininogen-deficient Brown Norway Katholiek rats (BN-Ka) excrete little urinary kinin, compared with normal rats of the same strain (BN Kitasato rats (BN-Ki)). Deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt treatment increased systolic blood pressure in both rats, but much faster in BN-Ka than in BN-Ki. Daily subcutaneous administration of ebelactone B (15 and 5 mg/kg/day), a rat urinary carboxypeptidase Y-like kininase inhibitor, significantly reduced systolic blood pressure in BN-Ki, but not in BN-Ka. This treatment significantly increased urinary Na+ excretion and reduced Na+ concentration in the erythrocytes in BN-Ki, but not in BN-Ka. An angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, lisinopril (5 mg/kg/day s.c.), did not reduce the systolic blood pressure in either BN-Ki or BN-Ka. These results suggested that ebelactone B has promise as a preventive agent for the development of hypertension acting through the inhibition of urinary kinin degradation.

Topics: Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Animals; Antihypertensive Agents; Blood Pressure; Carboxypeptidases; Cathepsin A; Creatinine; Desoxycorticosterone; Hypertension; Kininogens; Kinins; Lactones; Male; Potassium; Rats; Rats, Inbred BN; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Renin; Sodium