Cellular action and interactions of arginine vasopressin in vascular smooth muscle: mechanisms and clinical implications.

In recent years, much has been learned about the vascular action of arginine vasopressin (AVP) including (1) the structure, internalization, and recycling of the V1 AVP receptor; (2) the AVP postreceptor signaling events for the initial and sustained vascular smooth muscle cell contraction as well as the hormone's mitogenic effect; (3) the process of homologous and heterologous AVP desensitization in vascular smooth muscle cells; (4) the interaction of AVP with other vasoconstrictor and vasodilator hormones; (5) the vascular interaction of AVP with endothelial events; and (6) the vascular interactions that may occur with systemic acidemia or alkalemia as well as with ethanol. The various potential clinical and biochemical implications of these results are discussed briefly.