Adrenomedullin increases cyclic AMP more potently than CGRP and amylin in rat renal tubular basolateral membranes.

In rat renal tubular basolateral membranes, the potency to increase cAMP of adrenomedullin (AM), a novel vasorelaxant peptide originally isolated from human pheochromocytoma, was compared with those of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and amylin. Although all three peptides raised cAMP in a time- and concentration-dependent manner with a 4-fold increase at 10(-6)-10(-5) M, the EC50 value (10(-9) M) of AM was 100-fold smaller than those of CGRP and amylin. CGRP[8-37], an antagonist for CGRP receptors, attenuated cAMP elevation induced by these peptides with the essentially similar concentration-inhibition curves. These results suggest that the receptors for AM, CGRP and amylin share a common structural homology, and that the receptors sensitive to AM are preferentially expressed in renal tubular basolateral membranes.