Cardiovascular research
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Cardiovascular research · Nov 2003
Basal nitric oxide modulates vascular effects of a peptide activating protease-activated receptor 2.
Protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) is a G-protein-coupled receptor proteolytically activated by trypsin, tryptase or factor Xa. Alternatively, PAR2 can be activated by synthetic peptides whose sequence mimics the tethered ligand exposed after receptor cleavage. It is known that PAR2 modulates vascular reactivity, both in vitro and in vivo. The present study was designed to investigate the role of basal nitric oxide and cyclic nucleotides, adenosine 3'5'cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) and guanosine 3'5' cyclic monophosphate (cGMP), in the vasorelaxation induced by a PAR2-activating peptide (PAR2-AP; SLIGRL-NH(2)) on rat aorta in vitro. ⋯ Our results suggest that vasorelaxation induced by PAR2-AP is modulated by basal nitric oxide with an involvement of both cyclic nucleotides, cGMP and cAMP.