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17β-Estradiol inhibits calcium-dependent, but not calcium-independent, contraction in isolated rat aorta

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Abstract

It is now well known that 17β-estradiol has an endothelium-independent, non-genomic vasorelaxant effect. We hypothesized that 17β-estradiol has its non-genomic effect on calcium-independent contraction in de-endothelialized rat aortic rings. Rat aortic ring preparations were mounted in organ baths and exposed to contractile agents. 17β-Estradiol (8, 20 or 50 μM), but not 17α-estradiol, concentration-dependently decreased the tension induced by 1.0 μM phenylephrine (PE) in the presence, but not in the absence, of calcium in the solution. Pretreatment with 17β-estradiol concentration-dependently inhibited vascular contractions induced by cumulative addition of PE or calcium and almost completely abolished those induced by cumulative addition of Bay K8644, a calcium channel opener. Furthermore, 17β-estradiol also concentration-dependently decreased the tension induced by 0.3 μM phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), a protein kinase C activator, in the presence of calcium in the solution, but not in the absence of calcium in the solution. Pretreatment with 17β-estradiol had little effect on vascular contractions induced by PDBu or PE or on PE-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in calcium-free Krebs solution. These results suggest that 17β-estradiol inhibits calcium-dependent, but not calcium-independent, vascular contraction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to Dr. Michael Taggart (University of Manchester, Manchester, UK) for his critical reading of this manuscript. This work was supported by a grant no. R04-2001-00086 from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (to W.-J. Lee).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, 700-422, Republic of Korea

    Hae-Ahm Lee & Won-Jung Lee

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, 700-422, Republic of Korea

    YuJin Seong & InKyeom Kim

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  1. Hae-Ahm Lee
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  2. YuJin Seong
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Correspondence to InKyeom Kim.

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H.-A. Lee and Y. Seong contributed equally to this work.

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Lee, HA., Seong, Y., Lee, WJ. et al. 17β-Estradiol inhibits calcium-dependent, but not calcium-independent, contraction in isolated rat aorta. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 371, 152–157 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-004-1017-3

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