Abstract
We investigated the effects of elastase on cyclic AMP accumulation in cultured smooth muscle cells from pig coronary artery. The cells were stained with HHF 35, a muscle-actin-specific monoclonal antibody.
Although elastase alone did not have significant effects on cyclic AMP accumulation in the cells either in the presence or in the absence of isobutylmethylxanthine, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, it enhanced cyclic AMP accumulation in response to forskolin or isoproterenol. Elastase failed to suppress cholesterol accumulation by the cells during the incubation period of 5 days with hyperlipidemic serum. However, it prevented the reduction of cyclic AMP levels in the cells exposed to hyperlipidemic serum.
These results suggest that elastase may alter cyclic AMP accumulation in the coronary smooth muscle cells and such may partly explain the antiatherosclerotic properties of elastase.
