Endothelin-1 enhances acid-sensing ion channel currents in rat primary sensory neurons

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), an endogenous vasoactive peptide, has been found to play an important role in peripheral pain signaling. Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are key sensors for extracellular protons and contribute to pain caused by tissue acidosis. It remains unclear whether an interaction exists between ET-1 and ASICs in primary sensory neurons. In this study, we reported that ET-1 enhanced the activity of ASICs in rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons. In whole-cell voltage-clamp recording, ASIC currents were evoked by brief local application of pH 6.0 external solution in the presence of TRPV1 channel blocker AMG9810. Pre-application with ET-1 (1−100 nM) dose-dependently increased the proton-evoked ASIC currents with an EC50 value of 7.42 ± 0.21 nM. Pre-application with ET-1 (30 nM) shifted the concentration–response curve of proton upwards with a maximal current response increase of 61.11% ± 4.33%. We showed that ET-1 enhanced ASIC currents through endothelin-A receptor (ETAR), but not endothelin-B receptor (ETBR) in both DRG neurons and CHO cells co-expressing ASIC3 and ETAR. ET-1 enhancement was inhibited by blockade of G-protein or protein kinase C signaling. In current-clamp recording, pre-application with ET-1 (30 nM) significantly increased acid-evoked firing in rat DRG neurons. Finally, we showed that pharmacological blockade of ASICs by amiloride or APETx2 significantly alleviated ET-1-induced flinching and mechanical hyperalgesia in rats. These results suggest that ET-1 sensitizes ASICs in primary sensory neurons via ETAR and PKC signaling pathway, which may contribute to peripheral ET-1-induced nociceptive behavior in rats.