Angiotensin II Signaling in Vascular Smooth Muscle

Angiotensin II is a multifunctional hormone that affects both contraction and growth of vascular smooth muscle cells through a complex series of intracellular signaling events initiated by the interaction of angiotensin II with the AT1 receptor. The cellular response to angiotensin II is multiphasic, involving stimulation within seconds of phospholipase C and Ca2+ mobilization; activation within minutes of phospholipase D, A2, protein kinase C, and MAP kinase; and stimulation after a period of hours of gene transcription and NADH/NADPH oxidase activity. Angiotensin II also activates numerous intracellular tyrosine kinases. In this respect, it shares some aspects of signaling with growth factor and cytokine receptors, including activation of phospholipase C-gamma, src, and ras; association of shc with grb2; and stimulation of the Jak/STAT pathway. The cellular events responsible for this unique series of events may involve receptor movement and the creation of a signaling domain. Elucidation of these pathways is important to our understanding of AT1 receptor function as a final effector of the renin-angiotensin system.