C-Type Natriuretic Peptide Attenuates Evoked Dopamine Efflux by Influencing G o α

-Natriuretic peptides suppress adrenergic neurotransmission by a mechanism sensitive to pertussis toxin, suggesting that GTP-binding proteins are involved in the response. The major GTP-binding proteins present in the pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells used in this report are Goalpha and Gialpha2. We tested the hypothesis that the more abundant GTP-binding protein, Goalpha, mediates natriuretic peptide effects in PC12 cells by selectively ablating Goalpha from the cells with antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. The results indicate that a selective ablation of Goalpha with this technique eliminated C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) effects and suppressed dopamine efflux evoked by a depolarizing stimulus. However, the activation of guanylyl cyclase (GC) by CNP was sustained after the Goalpha ablation. Further, Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester suppressed evoked dopamine efflux equally in the presence and absence of Goalpha. These results suggest that CNP attenuates evoked catecholamine efflux from PC12 cells by a mechanism requiring Goalpha but independent of GC activation.