Dietary salt enhances benzamil-sensitive component of myogenic constriction in mesenteric arteries

摘要

epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) proteins have been considered as components of mammalian mechanosensors because of their similarity to mechanosensory proteins in the nematode. ENaC proteins have been localized to various mechanosensitive tissues and cells, including vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) (2-4, 6, 12, 13). Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that VSMCs from renal and cerebral beds express (3- and 7-ENaC proteins (3, 12). In these vascular beds, VSMCs mediate pressure-induced constriction, a mechanism that contributes to local regulation of blood flow. Whether ENaC proteins are expressed in VSMCs from mesenteric arteries, another myogenically reactive bed, is unknown.