Abstract
Hypoxia causes a large increase in [Ca2+]i and attendant contraction in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), but not in systemic artery SMCs. The different responses meet the respective functional needs in these two distinct vascular myocytes; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well known. We and other investigators have provided extensive evidence to reveal that voltage-dependent K+ (KV) channels, canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) channels, ryanodine receptor Ca2+ release channels (RyRs), cyclic adenosine diphosphate-ribose, FK506 binding protein 12.6, protein kinase C, NADPH oxidase and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the essential effectors and signaling intermediates in the hypoxic increase in [Ca2+]i in PASMCs and HPV, but they may not primarily underlie the diverse cellular responses in pulmonary and systemic vascular myocytes. Hypoxia significantly increases mitochondrial ROS generation in PASMCs, which can induce intracellular Ca2+ release by opening RyRs, and may also cause extracellular Ca2+ influx by inhibiting KV channels and activating TRPC channels, leading to a large increase in [Ca2+]i in PASMCs and HPV. In contrast, hypoxia has no or a minor effect on mitochondrial ROS generation in systemic SMCs, thereby causing no change or a negligible increase in [Ca2+]i and contraction. Further preliminary work indicates that Rieske iron-sulfur protein in the mitochondrial complex III may perhaps serve as a key initial molecular determinant for the hypoxic increase in [Ca2+]i in PASMCs and HPV, suggesting its potential important role in different cellular changes to respond to hypoxic stimulation in pulmonary and systemic artery myocytes. All these findings have greatly improved our understanding of the molecular processes for the differential hypoxic Ca2+ and contractile responses in vascular SMCs from distinct pulmonary and systemic circulation systems.