Nucleotide Receptors Involved in UTP-Induced Rat Arterial Smooth Muscle Cell Migration

Many factors have been shown to be involved in the development of hyperplasic lesions of vessels, but the role of extracellular nucleotides remains largely unknown. The presence of P2Y and P2X nucleotide receptors on arterial endothelial and smooth muscle cells suggests a potential role for nucleotides in the vessel pathophysiology. Although the role of P2X in physiology of vessels is well documented, that of P2Y is not completely understood. We recently demonstrated that extracellular nucleotides, and particularly UTP, induced migration of cultured arterial smooth muscle cells (ASMCs). This migration is dependent on osteopontin expression and involves the Rho and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways. An important question is to determine the specific role of the different P2Y receptors of rat ASMCs in the UTP-induced migration process. Therefore, we first quantified mRNA levels of P2Y2, P2Y4, and P2Y6 nucleotide receptors in cultured rat ASMCs by a competitive RT-PCR approach and demonstrated that P2Y2 is the most highly expressed among these receptors potentially involved in the UTP-mediated response. In addition to UTP, UDP also induced ASMC migration even when UTP regeneration was inhibited, suggesting the involvement of UDP receptor P2Y6. Moreover, suramin, a specific antagonist of rat P2Y2 receptor, acted as an inhibitor of UTP-induced migration. Taken together, these results suggest a prominent role for the UTP receptor, P2Y2, and for the UDP receptor, P2Y6, in UTP-induced rat ASMC migration.