Abstract-During pregnancy, relaxin stimulates nitric oxide (NO)-dependent renal vasodilation, hyperfiltration and reduced myogenic reactivity of small renal arteries via the endothelial ET B receptor subtype. Our objective in this study was to elucidate the mechanisms by which relaxin stimulates the endothelial ET B receptor/NO vasodilatory pathway. Using chronically instrumented conscious rats, we demonstrated that a specific peptide inhibitor of the gelatinases MMP-2 and -9, cyclic CTTHWGFTLC (cyclic CTT), but not the control peptide, STTHWGFTLS (STT), completely reversed renal vasodilation and hyperfiltration in relaxin-treated rats. Comparable findings were observed with a structurally different and well-established, general antagonist of MMPs, GM6001. In contrast, phosphoramidon, an inhibitor of endothelin-converting enzyme, did not significantly change the renal vasodilatory response to relaxin administration. When small renal arteries were incubated with either of the general MMP inhibitors, GM6001 or TIMP-2 (tissue inhibitor of MMP), or with the specific gelatinase inhibitor, cyclic CTT, the reduced myogenic reactivity of these blood vessels from relaxin-treated nonpregnant and midterm pregnant rats was totally abolished. Moreover, a neutralizing antibody specific for MMP-2 completely abrogated the reduced myogenic reactivity of small renal arteries from relaxin-treated nonpregnant and midterm pregnant rats. In contrast, phosphoramidon did not significantly affect the reduction in myogenic reactivity. Using gelatin zymography, we showed increased pro and active MMP-2 activity in small renal arteries from relaxin-treated nonpregnant and midterm pregnant rats relative to the control animals. Thus, inhibitors of MMPs in general and of gelatinases in particular reverse the renal vascular changes induced by pregnancy or relaxin administration to nonpregnant rats. Finally, the typical reduction in myogenic reactivity of small renal arteries from relaxin-treated nonpregnant rats was absent in ET B receptor-deficient rats, despite an increase in vascular MMP-2 activity. These results indicate an essential role for vascular gelatinase, which is in series with, and upstream of, the endothelial ET B receptor/NO signaling pathway in the renal vasodilatory response to relaxin and pregnancy. (Circ Res. 2003;93:1249-1257.)Key Words: nitric oxide Ⅲ endothelin B receptor Ⅲ pregnancy Ⅲ renal circulation Ⅲ matrix metalloproteinases V asodilation of nonreproductive organs is one of the earliest and most dramatic of maternal adaptations to human pregnancy. The gravid rat manifests comparable circulatory changes including renal vasodilation and hyperfiltration. 1,2 Consequently, this animal model has been extensively investigated in order to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the renal vasodilatory response to pregnancy. Endothelin (ET) has been shown to mediate nitric oxide (NO)-dependent renal vasodilation and hyperfiltration during pregnancy, as well as reduced myogenic reactivity of small renal arteries via the ET B rec...

IntroductionAmong the most striking changes seen in biology are those associated with pregnancy. In particular, profound vasodilation of nonreproductive organs including the kidney epitomizes the maternal cardiovascular adaptation to early gestation in women. Cardiac output, global arterial compliance, effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), and GFR rise from 30% to 80%, while vascular resistances plummet and blood pressure declines modestly (refs. 1, 2; and reviewed in ref. 3). These alterations begin immediately after conception, peak by the end of the first or beginning of the second trimester, and persist throughout gestation. It is likely that the circulations of nonreproductive organs such as the kidney serve as arteriovenous shunts during early gestation. Thus, ventricular afterload falls, which initiates the enormous increase in cardiac output and, subsequently, the expansion of plasma volume -maternal adaptations associated with healthy pregnancies. Furthermore, pressor response to administration of angiotensin II and vascular reactivity to infusion of norepinephrine become attenuated. Insight into the mechanisms responsible for these vasodilatory phenomena may be particularly critical, since in preeclampsia, the attenuation of pressor responsiveness to angiotensin II, the reduced vascular reactivity to norepinephrine, and the systemic and renal vasodilation are compromised (3).Although 17β-estradiol has been traditionally viewed as the uterine and systemic vasodilator of pregnancy (4, 5), this hormone has little, if any, effect on the renal circulation (5-8), which markedly vasodilates so early in pregnancy. Progesterone may have limited capacity to vasodilate the renal circulation (6, 9, 10); however, an alternative possibility is that the pregnancy protein hormones are involved. Relaxin is an approximately 6-kDa protein secreted by the corpus luteum during human gestation (reviewed in ref. 11). Stimulated by the luteotrophic hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin, serum levels of relaxin increase immediately after conception (11) corresponding to the gestational rise in ERPF and GFR (3). Relaxin also circulates, albeit at lower levels, in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (11) and is associated with a 20% increase in ERPF and GFR at that time (e.g., see ref. 12). The hormone is temporally linked to another early pregnancy adaptationosmoregulatory changes (13). In gravid rats, relaxin is secreted by the corpora lutea with serum levels first detectable on gestational day 8 (11). Marked vasodilation in the kidney and other nonreproductive organs is one of the earliest maternal adaptations to occur during pregnancy. Despite the recognition of this extraordinary physiology for over four decades, the gestational hormone responsible has remained elusive. Here we demonstrate a key role for relaxin, a member of the IGF family that is secreted by the corpus luteum in humans and rodents. Using a gravid rodent model, we employ two approaches to eliminate relaxin or its biological activity from the circulation:...

Administration of the ovarian hormone relaxin to nonpregnant rats vasodilates the renal circulation comparable to pregnancy. This vasodilation is mediated by endothelin (ET), the ET(B) receptor, and nitric oxide. Furthermore, endogenous relaxin mediates the renal vasodilation and hyperfiltration that occur during gestation. The goal of this study was to investigate whether myogenic reactivity of small renal and mesenteric arteries is reduced in relaxin-treated rats comparable to the pregnant condition. Relaxin or vehicle was administered to virgin female Long-Evans rats for 5 days at 4 microg/h, thereby producing midgestational blood levels of the hormone. The myogenic responses of small renal arteries (200-300 microm in diameter) isolated from these animals were evaluated in an isobaric arteriograph system. Myogenic reactivity was significantly reduced in the small renal arteries from relaxin-treated compared with vehicle-treated rats. The reduced myogenic responses were mediated by the ET(B) receptor and nitric oxide since the selective ET(B) receptor antagonist RES-701-1 and the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester restored myogenic reactivity to virgin levels. The influence of relaxin was not limited to the renal circulation because myogenic reactivity was also reduced in small mesenteric arteries isolated from relaxin-treated rats. Thus relaxin administration to nonpregnant rats mimics pregnancy, insofar as myogenic reactivity of small renal and mesenteric arteries is reduced in both conditions.