CLINICAL TRIAL: EFFECT OF GENE VARIANTS ON DOPAMINE RECEPTOR NATRIURETIC RESPONS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Our research group has discovered a D1 receptor/adenylyl cyclase coupling defect in renal PTCs from subjects with essential hypertension. We have found increased GRK-4 activity in renal PTCs in human essential hypertension due to activating variants of GRK-4, an effect that was reproduced in a transfected cell model. Preventing the translation of GRK-4 normalized the coupling of the D1 receptor to adenylyl cyclase in hypertension. Gene variants of GRK-4 cause a ligand-independent serine-phosphorylation of the D1 receptor, resulting in its uncoupling from the G-protein/effector complex. The desensitization of the D1 receptor in the renal PTC is hypothesized to be the cause of the compromised natriuretic effect of DA that eventually leads to Na+ retention and hypertension. The primary objective of this protocol is to demonstrate that natriuresis engendered by D1-like receptor activation with fenoldopam is blunted in subjects with 3 or more SNPs of GRK-4 compared with responses in subjects with 0-2 SNPs.