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Signal transduction

Rhomantic interludes raise blood pressure

Nature volume 389, pages 909–911 (1997)Cite this article

In the beginning there was calcium, prime activator of smooth and striated muscle contraction. But the beginning is not the end, as illustrated by the report of Narumiya and colleagues1 on page 990 of this issue. They describe a drug that inhibits the activity of an enzyme that sensitizes smooth-muscle contraction to Ca2+. Contraction of smooth-muscle cells determines the size of the lumen in blood vessels, airways, the gastrointestinal tract, uterus and bladder, and abnormal contraction can cause diseases such as high blood pressure and asthma. Accordingly, the new drug reduces high blood pressure in experimental animals. The results also throw light on a ubiquitous signalling system that operates not only in smooth muscle, but in most — perhaps all — non-muscle cells. Moreover, the new work raises the possibility of finding causes of, and treatments for, diseases due to abnormalities of smooth-muscle contraction.

When striated muscles are stimulated, levels of cytosolic Ca2+ increase and bind to troponin, which is a regulatory protein on thin (actin) filaments. Ca binding allows the thin filaments to slide, propelled by crossbridges projecting from adjacent thick (myosin) filaments. This is a tight, relatively direct coupling mechanism between Ca2+ and contraction.

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Figure 1: Narumiya and colleagues1 have identified a drug (Y-27632) that inhibits the activity of a Ca2+-sensitizing enzyme, leading to a reduction of high blood pressure in experimental animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Departments of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics and Internal Medicine (Cardiology), the Center for Structural Biology of the University of Virginia, PO Box 10011, Charlottesville, 22908, Virginia, USA

    A. P. Somlyo

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  1. A. P. Somlyo
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Somlyo, A. Rhomantic interludes raise blood pressure. Nature 389, 909–911 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/40002

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