Platelet-activating factor biosynthesis in rat vascular smooth muscle cells

Abstract

The ability of platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonists to protect rats from the cardiovascular collapse induced by large doses of endothelin 1 led us to examine the capacity of rat cultured vascular smooth muscle cells to produce PAF and also to evaluate its potential functional roles in this cell type. Adenosine triphosphate and the vasoactive peptides, endothelin 1, angiotensin II, and arginine vasopressin, each elicited an increase in the PAF level in extracts of rat cultured vascular smooth muscle cells as determined by bioassay. PAF was not detectable (above 20 fmol/mg protein) in the supernatants of these cells. The identity of the bioactivity as PAF was confirmed by GC/M..