Angiotensin II Signaling in Vascular Smooth Muscle

• DOI: 10.1161/01.hyp.29.1.366
• Publication Date: 2012-06-12T00:53:46Z
• Authors: Kathy K. Griendling; Masuko Ushio-Fukai; Bernard Lassègue; R. Wayne Alexander
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; 3. Good health

Angiotensin II is a multifunctional hormone that affects both contraction and growth of vascular smooth muscle cells through a complex series of intracellular signaling events initiated by the interaction of angiotensin II with the AT1receptor. The cellular response to angiotensin II is multiphasic, involving stimulation within seconds of phospholipase C and Ca2+mobilization; activation within minutes of phospholipase D, A2, protein kinase C, and MAP kinase; and stimulation after a period of hours of gene transcription and NADH/NADPH oxidase activity. Angiotensin II also activates numerous intracellular tyrosine kinases. In this respect, it shares some aspects of signaling with growth factor and cytokine receptors, including activation of phospholipase C-γ, src, and ras; association of shc with grb2; and stimulation of the Jak/STAT pathway. The cellular events responsible for this unique series of events may involve receptor movement and the creation of a signaling domain. Elucidation of these pathways is important to our understanding of AT1receptor function as a final effector of the renin-angiotensin system.