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Pannexin1 regulates α1‐adrenoreceptor‐mediated vasoconstriction
Author(s) -
Billaud Marie,
Lohman Alexander W,
Straub Adam C,
Best Angela K,
Chekeni Faraaz B,
Ravichandran Kodi S,
Penuela Silvia,
Laird Dale,
Isakson Brant E
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.819.4
Coordination of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) constriction in resistance arteries is key to the maintenance of vessel tone and response to stimuli. Pannexins (Panx) are nucleotide‐release channels that are permeable to the vasoconstrictor ATP and thus may play a role in vascular intercellular communication. We investigated the role of Panx in α1‐adrenoreceptor mediated vasoconstriction in thoracodorsal resistance arteries (TDA). Among the three pannexin isoforms, only Panx1 was found to be present in the VSMC of TDA. Functionally, the contractile response of TDA to phenylephrine (PE) was significantly decreased by multiple pannexin inhibitors (mefloquine, probenecid and 10 Panx1), a nucleotidase (apyrase) and purinergic receptor inhibitors (suramin and reactive‐blue‐2). We next electroporated TDA with Panx1‐GFP or Panx1 siRNA. Overexpression or underexpression of Panx1 showed enhanced and decreased constriction respectively in response to PE. Lastly, we tested the pannexin inhibitors on KCl responses and demonstrated that none of them altered normal KCl constriction. This result correlated with our co‐immunoprecipitation from TDA, which showed a strong interaction between Panx1 and α1‐adrenoreceptor. In conclusion, our data demonstrates for the first time a potentially key role for Panx1 in the constriction of resistance arteries.