Endothelins (ETs) are a family of 21-amino acid hypertensive peptides, which together with their receptors ETA and ETb are expressed in human adrenal cortex. Evidence has been provided that ETs exert a potent secretagogue effect on human adrenocortical cells, acting through both ETA and ETb receptors. Therefore, it seemed worthwhile to study the signaling cascades mediating the cortisol secretagogue effect of the two receptor subtypes. Normal adrenal glands were obtained from consenting patients undergoing unilateral nephrectomy with ipsilateral adrenalectomy for renal cancer. Dispersed zona fasciculata-reticularis (ZF/R) cells were obtained by collagenase digestion and mechanical disaggregation. The selective activation of ETA and ETb receptors was obtained by exposing dispersed cells to ET-1 plus the ETb receptor antagonist BQ-788 and to the selective ETb receptor agonist BQ-3020, respectively. ETA and ETb receptors about equally contributed to the cortisol response of dispersed ZF/R cells to ETs. The phospholipase (PL) C inhibitor U-73122 abolished ETA-mediated secretory response, but only partially prevented the ETb-mediated one. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin and the protein kinase (PK) C inhibitor calphostin-C significantly blunted the secretory responses ensuing from the activation of both receptor subtypes, while the Ca2+-channel blocker nifedipine was ineffective. The ETb receptor-, but not the ETA receptor-mediated cortisol response was partially reversed by the cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor indomethacin, which when added together with U-73122 abolished it. The inhibitors of adenylate cyclase, PKA, tyrosine kinase and lipoxygenase did not affect the secretory response to the activation of either receptor subtype. ETA-receptor activation raised inositol triphosphate (IP3) production from dispersed ZF/R cells, while ETb-receptor stimulation enhanced both IP3 and prostaglandin-E2 production. Collectively, our findings indicate that ETs stimulate cortisol secretion from human ZF/R cells, acting through ETA receptors exclusively coupled with PLC/PKC-dependent pathway and ETb receptors coupled with both PLC/PKC- and COX-dependent cascades.

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