Angiotensin II and phorbol-esters potently down-regulate endothelin (ET-1) binding sites in vascular smooth muscle cells

125I]ET-1 binding to vascular smooth muscle cells showed an apparent single class of high affinity recognition sites with a Kd of 2.12 +/- 0.46 nM and a Bmax of 81.2 +/- 5.2 fmol/10(6) cells. The specific binding was equally and totally displaced by ET-1 and ET-2 whereas ET-3 presented a different pattern. We investigated heterologous regulation of ET-1 binding sites by preincubating the cells with angiotensin II (AII), Arg-vasopressin, bradykinin, enkephalins, serotonin, norepinephrine and carbachol, for 18 h at 37 degrees C. Only AII pretreatment resulted in an important and dose-dependent decrease of ET-1 binding capacity. Sar1-Ile8-AII inhibited the regulatory effect of AII. Furthermore, preexposure of the cells with phorbol-12,13 dibutyrate but not with phorbol-12,13 didecanoate also resulted in a concentration-dependent diminution of ET-1 binding sites. These findings suggest that AII may selectively down-regulate ET-1 binding sites in vascular smooth muscle cells by a mechanism involving protein kinase C.