The effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on cultured rat mesangial cells were studied by measuring planar cell surface area (PCSA) after incubation with xanthine plus xanthine oxidase (XXO), in the presence of superoxide dismutase (SOD; 5 micrograms/ml) or catalase (CAT; 20 micrograms/ml), or after incubation with H2O2. Myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation was assessed in cells prelabeled with o-[32P]phosphoric acid and incubated with H2O2, after protein separation with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A possible intermediate role for platelet-activating factor (PAF) was analyzed by preincubation of the cells with a PAF antagonist BN 52021 (BN, 5 x 10(-5) M) and by measuring PAF-specific [3H]acetate incorporation and immunoassayable PAF. XXO significantly decreased PCSA (14%), an effect abolished by CAT but not by SOD. H2O2 induced a similar effect, in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. MLC phosphorylation increased by 81 +/- 15% after H2O2 incubation, and this effect was blocked by BN. BN also completely blocked the effect of H2O2 on PCSA. PAF-specific [3H]acetate incorporation increased in the presence of H2O2 (from 6,886 +/- 2,030 to 58,703 +/- 16,063 counts.min-1.mg-1) as well as the immunoassayable PAF production by cells (from 0.90 +/- 0.19 to 6.71 +/- 2.27 ng/mg). These results suggest that ROS, particularly H2O2, could modulate the surface area of mesangial cells, modifying the ultrafiltration coefficient, thus explaining the decrease in glomerular filtration rate in those pathological situations characterized by an increased ROS synthesis. PAF could be involved in the genesis of these effects.

The effects of somatostatin (ST) on the regulation of the glomerular filtration rate have not been extensively studied. The present experiments were designed to analyze this possible relationship. ST alone did not modify the planar cell surface area (PCSA) of cultured rat mesangial cells (CRMC), but it prevented and reversed the reduction in PCSA induced by 10 nM angiotensin II (Ang II) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. ST (1 microM) completely prevented and reversed the increase in the myosin light chain phosphorylation induced by 10 nM Ang II. Incubation with pertussis toxin (PT, 0.5 micrograms/ml) inhibited the effect of ST on the Ang II-dependent changes in PCSA, but this effect was not inhibited by the blockade of the vasodilatory prostaglandins (indomethacin, 10 microM) or nitric oxide (L-N-methyl-arginine, 0.2 mM) synthesis. 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine (DDA, 0.1 mM), an adenylate cyclase blocker, and methylene blue (MB, 30 microM), a soluble guanylate cyclase blocker, did not interfere with the ST inhibitory effect on the Ang II-dependent reduction in PCSA of rat mesangial cells. ST also blocked the reduction in PCSA induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 300 nM). ST was also able to prevent and revert the Ang II dependent reduction in glomerular cross-sectional area of isolated rat glomeruli, also in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Finally, intravenous administration of ST (200 ng/kg body wt as a bolus plus a continuous injection of 25 ng/min/kg body wt) partially blocked the reduction in GFR (measured as CIn) and RPF (measured as CPAH) and the increase in filtration fraction induced by the intravenous administration of Ang II (1.7 micrograms/min/kg body wt) in anesthetized rats. In summary, these results suggest that ST could antagonize the renal actions of Ang II, increasing the GFR and RPF decreased by Ang II, and this effect could be dependent, at least partially, on a direct relaxing effect of ST on mesangial cells.

Although the ability of somatostatin (ST) to relax cultured rat mesangial cells has recently been described, the intimate cellular mechanisms responsible for this effect have not been adequately clarified. The present experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that cyclic GMP (cGMP) could be involved in the genesis of this relaxation. ST increased cGMP synthesis by cultured rat mesangial cells, in basal conditions and in the presence of isobutylmethylxanthine or zaprinast. This effect was dose-dependent, with a threshold value of about 1 nM and a maximal response at ST concentrations between 0.1 and 1 microM. This increased cGMP synthesis was dependent on the stimulation by ST of a particulate guanylate cyclase, as the synthesis of cGMP by a particulate membrane fraction obtained from the cells increased in the presence of ST. When the cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase of mesangial cells was blocked with zaprinast, the ST-dependent relaxation, assessed both by morphological and biochemical criteria, significantly increased with respect to the experiments performed without zaprinast. These results support a role for cGMP in the ST-dependent relaxation of cultured rat mesangial cells. The increased cGMP synthesis appears to be the consequence of the activation of some form of particulate guanylate cyclase.

Although the cGMP-dependent relaxation of contractile cells seems to depend on the ability of the cyclic nucleotide to interfere with intracellular calcium, this does not appear to be the only mechanism involved. The present experiments were designed to analyse alternative mechanisms, trying to test the hypothesis that cGMP could relax rat mesangial cells by activating myosin light-chain phosphatase (MLC-PP), with the subsequent dephosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC). The effect of a cGMP analogue, dibutyryl cGMP (dbcGMP), on angiotensin II-(AII) and PMA-induced MLC phosphorylation (MLCP) was tested, in the presence of calyculin A (CA), an inhibitor of MLC-PP. MLCP was measured, after cell labelling with (32)P, by immunoprecipitation. dbcGMP prevented the increased MLCP induced by AII or PMA, and this inhibition was blocked by CA. dbcGMP also increased the MLC dephosphorylation observed in cells incubated with AII and in which MLC kinase and protein kinase C activities were blocked. The AII-elicited increased intracellular calcium concentration was only partially inhibited by dbcGMP. These results suggest that the cGMP-induced mesangial-cell relaxation could be due, at least partially, to the stimulation of MLC-PP.