Effects of somatostatin on cultured human mesangial cells.

The present experiments were devoted to analyzing the hypothesis that somatostatin (SS) could modulate glomerular filtration rate by interacting with mesangial cells. Studies were performed in cultured human mesangial cells, passages 3-5. Radioligand experiments demonstrated the presence in the cells of two kinds of receptors, with high (dissociation constant 14 pM. Number of sites: 426 fmol/mg) and low (dissociation constant 56 pM. Number of sites: 20, 111 fmol/mg) affinity. SS prevented in a dose-dependent manner the reduction in planar cell surface area induced by 100 nM Angiotensin II (AII). This effect was not inhibited by the blockade of the vasorelaxing prostaglandins (indomethacin, 10 microM), nitric oxide (L-N-methyl-arginine, 0.2 mM), adenylate cyclase (2,5'-dideoxyadenosine, 0.1 mM), or guanylate cyclase (Methylene blue, 30 microM; LY-83583, 10 microM), but it was potentiated by zaprinast, an inhibitor of the cyclic GMP (cGMP)-specific phosphodiesterase. SS also blocked the increase in myosin l...