Endogenous Cardiac Glycosides: Hormones Using the Sodium Pump as Signal Transducer

The search for an endogenous digitalis has led to the identification of the cardenolides ouabain and digoxin and the bufadienolide marinobufagenin in mammalian tissues and biological fluids. Ouabain's release from adrenal glands is under the control of epinephrine and angiotensin II; hence, its blood concentration changes rapidly on physical exercise. It also is controlled by brain areas sensing cerebrospinal Na+ concentration and apparently the body's K+ content because urinary K+ loss leads to an increase in its plasma concentration as well. Long-term treatment of rats with ouabain results in arterial hypertension, and 50% of Caucasians with low-renin hypertension have increased plasma concentrations of this cardenolide. Levels of digoxin, which is synthesized from acetate in adrenal glands, increase slightly in blood on prolonged exercise. It counteracts the hypertensinogenic action of ouabain in rats, as does the ouabain antagonist PST 2238. The plasma concentration of the bufadienolide marinobufagenin is increased after cardiac infarction. It may show natriuretic properties because it inhibits the α1 isoform of Na+/K+-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), the main sodium pump isoform of the kidney, much better than other sodium pump isoforms. These effects of endogenous cardiac glycosides are observed at concentrations that do not inhibit the sodium pump. Apparently, Na+/K+-ATPase is used by these steroids as a signal transducer to activate tissue proliferation, heart contractility, arterial hypertension, and natriuresis via various intracellular signaling pathways.