Effects of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids on levels of eNOS phosphorylation and relevant signaling transduction path-ways involved

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is a key enzyme responsible for the regu-lation of vascular homeostasis. Many humor factors and mechanical forces can affect eNOS ac-tivity via phosphorylation modification but the mechanisms involved vary with stimuli applied. We have demonstrated that cytochrome P450 (CYP) epoxygenase-dependent metabolites of ara-chidonic acid, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), can robustly up-regulate eNOS expression and its activity, however the relevant signaling pathways responsible for activity regulation are not well known. In this study, we explored the role of PI3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) sig-naling pathway in eNOS expression and its phosphorylation in response to EETs via direct addi-tion of EETs into cultured bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAECs) and recombinant adeno- asso-ciated virus-mediated transfection of CYP epoxygenase genes CYPF87V and CYP2C11 to pro-duce endogenous EETs followed by co-treatment with PI3K or Akt inhibitor. Results show that both exogenous and endogenous EETs could remarkably enhance eNOS expression and its phosphorylation at Ser1179 and Thr497 residues; PI3K inhibitor LY294002 could inhibit EETs-induced increase in eNOS-Ser(P)1179 but had no effect on the change of eNOS-Thr(P)497, while Akt inhibitor could attenuate the increase in phosphor-eNOS at both residues; both of the two inhibitors could block EETs-enhanced eNOS expression. These results lead to conclusions: (i) EETs-mediated regulation of eNOS activity may be related with the changes of phosphoryla-tion level at eNOS-Ser1179 via PI3K/Akt and eNOS-Thr497 via Akt; (ii) PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is involved in the up-regulation of eNOS expression by EETs.