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Endothelin-1 and ET_A Receptor Expression in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells from Human Placenta: A New ET_A Receptor Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Is Generated by Alternative Splicing of Exon 3¹

INSERM U-361, Université René-Descartes, Maternité Baudelocque, 75014 Paris, France

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. C. Bourgeois, INSERM U-361, Maternité Baudelocque, 123 boulevard de Port-Royal, 75014 Paris, France. E-mail: u361{at}cochin.inserm.fr

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoactive peptide in stem villi vessels, which are considered to be the major sites of placental vascular resistance. To investigate the influence of pregnancy-specific hormonal environment on ET and ET receptor (ET-R) expression, we first developed and characterized a culture of vascular smooth muscle cells from stem villi vessels. Secondly, we investigated whether the muscular layer of stem villi vessels could be a site of the ET expression described in the placenta, and we examined this expression in placental vascular smooth muscle cells (PVSMCs). Prepro-ET-1 and prepro-ET-3 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) were identified in stem villi vessels, whereas only prepro-ET-1 mRNA was observed in PVSMCs. Third, with the goal of using PVSMCs as ET target cells, we characterized the ET-R expressed by these cells in comparison with the muscular layer of stem villi vessels. Whereas both ET_A-R and ET_B-R are present in stem villi vessels, we found that PVSMCs express exclusively ET_A-R. In addition to the previously reported ET_A-R spliced transcripts, we described a new ET_A-R transcript, ET_A-R3, generated by exclusion of exon 3 in stem villi vessels and PVSMCs. Alternative splicing mechanisms of ET_A-R mRNA could constitute a control of the abundance of active ET_A-R in terms of contractility. PVSMCs will be a useful model to study the environmental stimuli involved in the regulation of ET and ET-R expression in the muscular layer of feto-placental vasculature.

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