Abstract 044: Purinoceptor-Dependent Regulation of Sodium Excretion is Sexually Dimorphic

Abstract

Premenopausal women have a lower risk of hypertension compared to age-matched men. Recently, prominent roles have been assigned to P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 purinoceptor subtypes in promoting Na + excretion, implicating dysfunction of these receptors as potential contributors to hypertension. We recently reported that activation of P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 receptors in the renal medulla by UTP promotes Na + excretion in male rats. In intact females, UTP did not stimulate Na + excretion while ovariectomy unmasked UTP-induced natriuresis. These observations led us to hypothesize that intact females have higher basal renal medullary activity of P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 receptors in regulating Na + excretion compared to male and ovariectomized (OVX) rats. To test that, we determined (i) P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 mRNA and protein expression in the inner medulla from male, intact female and OVX Sprague Dawley rats and (ii) the effect of inhibiting medullary purinoceptors (P2 receptors) on Na + excretion in those rats. We found that P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 mRNA expression was higher in the inner medulla from females compared to males (1.00±0.09 vs. 0.70±0.05 and 1.00±0.22 vs. 0.29±0.05, respectively, P<0.5, n=5-10). These sex differences in P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 mRNA expression were eliminated by ovariectomy (0.60±0.06 and 0.29±0.04, respectively, p<0.5,n=5,8). Consistently, Western blots on inner medullary lysates showed that intact females have higher expression of P2Y 2 receptor, compared to males. In anesthetized rats, medullary P2 receptor inhibition by suramin (P2 receptor antagonist, 750 μg/kg/min) significantly attenuated Na + excretion in intact females (0.4±0.1 vs. 0.9±0.2 μmol/min, P<0.5, n=7), but not in male or OVX rats.To test whether estradiol (E 2 ) increases the expression of P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 receptors, we subjected cultured mouse inner medullary collecting duct cells (mIMCD3) to different concentrations of E 2 (0, 10, 100 and 1000 nM). We found that E 2 dose-dependently increased the expression of P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 mRNA in mIMCD3. These data suggest that females have enhanced P2Y 2 and P2Y 4 -dependent regulation of Na + excretion in the renal medulla, compared to male and OVX rats, at least partially via an E 2 -dependent mechanism. This pathway may contribute to facilitated renal Na + handling in premenopausal females.