Endothelins are more sensitive than sarafotoxins to neutral endopeptidase: Possible physiological significance

M. Sokolovsky*, R. Galron, Y. Kloog, A. Bdolah, F. E. Indig, S. Blumberg, G. Fleminger

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

134 Scopus citations

Abstract

Incubation of endothelins (ETs) with bovine kidney neutral endopeptidase (NEP) resulted in a selective two-step degradation with loss of biochemical activity. The K(m) of the enzyme indicated high-affinity binding, and hydrolysis was completely inhibited by phosphoramidon. The first step was nicking of the Ser5-Leu6 bond, followed by cleavage at the amino side of Ile19. The nicked peptide exhibited biochemical activities comparable to those of the intact peptide - i.e., binding to the ET receptor, induction of inositol phospholipid hydrolysis, and toxicity. The twice-cleaved product was inactive. The sarafotoxins (SRTXs) were more resistant than the ETs to NEP: for example, the half-time for ET-1 was ~ 1 hr, while it was ~ 4 hr for SRTX-b and even higher for SRTX-c. These in vitro findings may indicate a regulatory role of NEP (or similar enzymes) in the physiological inactivation of ETs. They might also help to explain why under certain physiological conditions ETs may be less toxic than SRTXs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4702-4706
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume87
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 1990

Keywords

  • inositol phospholipid turnover
  • neutral endopeptidase
  • proteolysis
  • receptor binding sites
  • structure activity relationship

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