Abstract
The mechanical overload of the heart is known to induce the expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) in the heart. However, the relationship between these two substances remains unknown. In the present study, we characterized ANP secretion from mouse atria and examined a possible role that HSP70 may play in the regulation of ANP synthesis and secretion by using atria in transgenic mice in which HSP70 was overexpressed. We generated transgenic mice harboring the human HSP70 gene under the transcriptional control of human myosin heavy-chain promoter. In these mice, the transgene was overexpressed in the heart. Both atrial ANP messenger RNA and its concentration in the HSP70 transgenic mice were measured; these were not significantly different from those in wild-type mice. In isolated perfused non-beating atria, basal secretion of ANP was similar in both groups. When atrial volume was increased by changing atrial pressure, extracellular fluid (ECF) translocation and ANP secretion proportionately increased. Changes in atrial volume and ECF translocation and ANP secretion were positively correlated. However, these parameters did not significantly differ between the two groups. Endothelin-1 (ET-1), the strongest paracrine stimulus of ANP secretion, accentuated stretch-activated ANP secretion without significantly changing mechanically stimulated ECF translocation, as compared with that in the wild-type mice. The increased ANP secretion due to ET-1 in the transgenic mice was similar to that in the wild-type mice. The results suggest that both atrial stretching and ET-1 are important stimuli to ANP secretion from mouse atria, and the responsiveness of the ANP system to those stimuli are unlikely coupled to the pathway involving HSP70.