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1. Phenylephrine-induced contractions of rabbit isolated trigone and urethra were antagonized in a competitive manner by alfuzosin (pA2 7.44 and 7.30, respectively) and prazosin. 2. The characteristics of [3H]-prazosin binding to human prostatic adenoma tissue were evaluated. [3H]-prazosin was potently displaced by alpha 1-adrenoceptor specific agents including alfuzosin, its (+)- and (-)-enantiomers and prazosin (IC50 0.035, 0.023, 0.019 and 0.004 microM, respectively), but only weakly by alpha 2-adrenoceptor selective agents, for example, yohimbine (IC50 = 6.0 microM). 3. In the pithed rat, alfuzosin (0.03-0.3 mg kg-1, i.v.) markedly inhibited pressor responses produced by the alpha 1-selective agonist, cirazoline but inhibited only slightly responses to the alpha 2-selective agonist, UK 14,304. Alfuzosin (1 mg kg-1, i.v.) had minimal effects against responses mediated by stimulation of prejunctional alpha 2-receptors (UK 14,304-induced inhibition of sympathetic tachycardia). 4. In the anaesthetized cat, alfuzosin (0.001-1 mg kg-1, i.v.) and prazosin (0.001-0.3 mg kg-1, i.v.) produced dose-related inhibition of the increases in urethral pressure caused by stimulation of sympathetic hypogastric nerves. Prazosin was approximately 5 fold more potent than alfuzosin. When phenylephrine was employed to induce urethral and vascular alpha 1-mediated tone simultaneously, prazosin inhibited both stimuli with similar potency whereas alfusozin was 3-5 fold more potent against elevated urethral pressure. This functional uroselectivity of alfuzosin was more evident by the intraduodenal route, since doses of 0.03 and 0.1 mg kg-1 alfuzosin inhibited urethral pressure with minimal effects on arterial blood pressure. 5. Alfuzosin is a potent selective alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonist in tissues of the lower urinary tract including the human prostate. This provides a pharmacological basis for its use in the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy.

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In conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 16 months of age, the blockade of autonomic ganglia (with chlorisondamine) or postjunctional alpha 1-adrenergic receptors (with prazosin) or the depletion of peripheral norepinephrine stores (with syrosingopine), in contrast to the blockade of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors (with yohimbine, rauwolscine), produced a sustained decrease in the directly measured mean tail artery blood pressure. In 3- to 9-month-old SHR, the fall in blood pressure after prazosin pretreatment was significantly smaller than that after chlorisondamine or syrosingopine pretreatment. In ganglion-blocked SHR, prazosin decreased blood pressure only when this parameter had been elevated by an intra-arterial infusion of epinephrine or norepinephrine. In contrast, under the same experimental conditions, yohimbine or rauwolscine administration failed to modify the pressor effects of either phenylephrine or epinephrine but partially reduced those of norepinephrine and, unlike prazosin, strongly antagonized those of B-HT 920. In either intact or ganglion-blocked SHR, a 30-minute intra-arterial infusion of diltiazem at 100.0, but not 25.0, micrograms/kg/min significantly decreased baseline mean tail artery blood pressure. In ganglion-blocked SHR, the smaller dose of diltiazem antagonized by 40 and 80% the pressor effects of norepinephrine and B-HT 920, respectively, but failed to change the vasoconstrictor responses of phenylephrine, epinephrine, or vasopressin, which were, however, reduced by the higher dose of diltiazem. These results indicate that, in conscious adult SHR, norepinephrine released by peripheral sympathetic nervous terminals and humorally borne epinephrine stimulate almost exclusively post-junctional alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. The latter findings may account for the lack of blood pressure-lowering effects of the studied calcium antagonists at doses that effectively antagonize alpha 2-adrenergic receptor-mediated vasoconstriction in conscious SHR.

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In pentobarbital-anesthetized rats prepared for hemodynamic measurements with Doppler flow probes, intravenous (i.v.) infusions of fenoldopam (2.5 - 160.0 micrograms/kg/min during 15 min) decreased mean carotid artery blood pressure, total peripheral, hindquarter, renal, and mesenteric vascular resistances and increased renal blood flow strongly. The hypotensive effects attained a maximum within the first 3 min of infusion but waned by greater than 30% at the end of fenoldopam administration. This tolerance was observed for calculated total peripheral and hindquarter vascular resistances and to a lesser extent for mesenteric resistance. However, it was absent on the renal vascular bed. Pretreatment with either enalapril, pepstatine, or bilateral nephrectomy significantly increased the hypotensive response to fenoldopam and attenuated the development of tolerance. In conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), enalapril potentiated strongly the small blood pressure-lowering activity of fenoldopam. The fall in blood pressure produced by fenoldopam was specifically blocked by SCH 23390, an antagonist of DA-1 dopamine receptors. In normotensive vasopressin-supported pithed rats given phenoxybenzamine plus propranolol, fenoldopam, like SCH 23390, blocked the vasodepressor effects of i.v. bolus injection of dopamine and fenoldopam. In pithed rats, fenoldopam evoked a pressor response that was significantly reduced by enalapril, SCH 23390, or bilateral nephrectomy. In conclusion, fenoldopam exerts DA-1 agonist and antagonist effects. The latter property, together with the activation of the renin-angiotensin system, appears to be responsible for the development of tolerance to the fenoldopam evoked-hypotension. The lack of a tolerance at the level of the renal vascular bed is possibly due to the existence of a large population of DA-1 receptors in this region.

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The partial beta adrenoceptor agonist properties of cicloprolol, xamoterol and pindolol have been compared in vivo (anesthetized catecholamine-depleted or pithed rats) and in vitro (guinea pig or rat right atria and guinea pig tracheal muscle preparations) conditions. All three compounds increased heart rate in the former preparations, and their intrinsic activities relative to isoproterenol were 0.7, 0.65 and 0.45, respectively. The positive chronotropic effects of cicloprolol or xamoterol were competitively antagonized by betaxolol or propranolol; however, part of those induced by pindolol were resistant to these beta adrenoceptor antagonists. None of these compounds increased the spontaneous beating rate of isolated guinea pig atria; however, xamoterol only increased heart rate in isolated rat atria, and its intrinsic activity with respect to isoproterenol was 0.4. Pindolol, xamoterol and cicloprolol behaved as competitive beta-1 adrenoceptor antagonists against isoproterenol-induced tachycardia in a pithed rat model. In order to mimic the intrinsic effects of the partial agonist drugs, control dose-response curves for isoproterenol were determined in pithed rats in which the base-line heart rate was elevated by thoracic spinal cord stimulation. In this in vivo preparation, xamoterol and pindolol were more potent beta-1 adrenoceptor antagonists than cicloprolol; however, cicloprolol and xamoterol, in contrast to pindolol, were selective for beta-1 adrenoceptors. In isolated spontaneously beating guinea pig right atria, cicloprolol and xamoterol were equipotent beta-1 adrenoceptor antagonists but were about 50 times less potent than pindolol. In isolated rat atria, the beta-1 adrenoceptor antagonist potency of xamoterol was greater (pA2 = 8.7) than in guinea pig atria (pA2 = 7.8). The potencies of cicloprolol and pindolol did not vary between these species. In catecholamine-depleted rats, high i.v. doses of cicloprolol had vasodilator activity that was partly mediated by beta-2 adrenoceptors. In carbachol-contracted guinea pig trachea, cicloprolol and xamoterol, in contrast to pindolol, were relatively inactive against isoproterenol-induced relaxation. In conclusion, cicloprolol and xamoterol, similarly to pindolol, behave as agonists and antagonists of beta-1 adrenoceptors. However, only cicloprolol and xamoterol show an elevated degree of selectivity toward the beta-1 adrenoceptor subtype.

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A series of para-substituted phenoxypropanolamines has been synthesized and tested for beta-adrenoceptor blocking activity. Some derivatives (8, 11, 12, 20, 21) exhibited greater in vitro potency than the reference drugs metoprolol and propranolol. This series, in contrast to propranolol but similar to metoprolol, possesses cardioselectivity. The 3-[p-[(cycloalkylmethoxy)ethyl]phenoxy]-1-substituted-amino-2-prop anol derivatives 8 (cyclopropylmethoxyethyl: betaxolol) and 11 (cyclobutylmethoxyethyl) produced antihypertensive effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Betaxolol (Kerlon, 8) was found to exhibit an appropriate preclinical pharmacological and human pharmacokinetic profile (elevated oral bioavailability and prolonged plasma half-life) for the treatment of chronic cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and angina.

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In pithed rats, blood pressure dose-response curves to i.v. cirazoline, methoxamine and phenylephrine (full alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonists) exhibited higher maxima than those to B-HT 920, M-7, UK-14,304 (full alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists) and indanidine (Sgd 101/75: partial alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonist). For an 80 mm Hg increase in blood pressure, full alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonists enhanced total peripheral, renal and mesenteric vascular resistances significantly more than alpha-2 adrenoceptor stimulants or indanidine. In contrast, all compounds produced a similar degree of hindquarter vasoconstriction, suggesting that both types of alpha adrenoceptors have the same functional importance in this skeletal muscle vascular bed. Application of a multivariate discriminant analysis to the drug-induced changes in the total peripheral and mesenteric vascular resistances associated with a pressor effect of 80 mm Hg allowed their assignment to two distinct groups corresponding to the full alpha-1 and the full alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists plus indanidine. All investigated compounds in low doses increased cardiac output, which returned to base-line values after high doses of alpha-1 but plateaued after high doses of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists or indanidine. alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonists decreased whereas alpha-2 stimulants and indanidine successively increased and then decreased renal blood flow. Finally, all investigated compounds increased hindquarter blood flow at low doses but decreased it at high doses. The ratios of the doses of cirazoline required to produce a 100% rise in systemic and local vascular resistances in the presence or in the absence of prazosin were of similar magnitude. This was also true for M-7 when studied in the presence or in the absence of yohimbine. These findings suggest pharmacological identity within alpha-1 as well as within alpha-2 adrenoceptor populations in all investigated vascular beds. Finally, the calcium entry blocker diltiazem did not affect the increases in systemic and regional resistances evoked by cirazoline but depressed profoundly the effects of M-7 and indanidine. In conclusion, full alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists can be discriminated easily on the basis of their systemic and regional hemodynamics in the pithed rat. That the hemodynamic effects of the partial alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonist indanidine are similar to those of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists and susceptible to calcium channel blockade suggests that the alpha-1 adrenoceptors stimulated by this drug have the same coupling modality as alpha-2 adrenoceptors and share with the latter the same functional expression when stimulated.

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In normotensive anesthetized rats, 15-min IV infusions of quinpirole (2.5-40.0 micrograms/kg/min) produced dose-related, rapidly appearing, and long-lasting decreases in mean carotid artery BP and HR. Hemodynamically, the hypotensive effects of quinpirole (10.0 micrograms/kg/min) were due to a fall in total peripheral vascular resistance inasmuch as CO did not undergo significant changes. Mesenteric, hindquarter, and renal blood flows were, respectively, reduced, unchanged, and increased by quinpirole; thus, the renal vascular resistance fell more than either the total peripheral or hindquarter vascular resistance. Biochemically, the hypotensive effects of quinpirole were accompanied by a decrease in the plasma level of norepinephrine and plasma renin activity. The peak fall in blood pressure produced by quinpirole was not significantly modified by atenolol, idazoxan, ranitidine, SCH 23390 (DA1 dopamine receptor antagonist), enalapril, or SK&F 100273 (V1 vasopressin receptor antagonist), but was entirely blocked by S-sulpiride or removal of autonomic nerve drive to the cardiovascular system with chlorisondamine. The effect of quinpirole on systemic and regional vascular resistances was antagonized by S-sulpiride. Furthermore, SK&F 100273 prevented the fall in mesenteric flow produced by quinpirole. Intracerebroventricular injection of quinpirole (10.0 micrograms/kg over 2 min) in saline- or SK&F 100273-pretreated rats produced the same hypotensive effects as an identical IV dose of the compound. In pithed rats, quinpirole (10 micrograms/kg/min IV over 15 min) decreased pressor responses to electrical stimulation of spinal cord outflow without affecting those to exogenously injected angiotensin II, B-HT 920, cirazoline, norepinephrine, or 5-hydroxytryptamine. This inhibitory effect was antagonized by S-sulpiride. The bradycardia produced by quinpirole in intact rats was mediated by the autonomic nervous system inasmuch as it was slightly modified by bilateral vagotomy, partly reduced by atenolol, and entirely prevented by pithing even when the low HR of the last preparation had been raised by IV infusion of isoprenaline. Furthermore, S-sulpiride, but not SCH 23390 or idazoxan, antagonized this effect. In pithed rats, quinpirole similarly inhibited the tachycardic responses elicited by electrical stimulation of either the spinal cord outflow (preganglionic) or postganglionic cardioaccelerator nerve fibers. This effect of quinpirole was susceptible to S-sulpiride but not idazoxan blockade. Finally, in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) but not in normotensive rats, quinpirole (10 micrograms/kg/min IA over 15 min) lowered blood pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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A series of N2-[(acylamino)alkyl]-6,7-dimethoxy-2,4-quinazolinediamines was synthesized as potential alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonists. When administered to spontaneously hypertensive rats at 10 mg/kg po, a number of propanediamine derivatives showed good antihypertensive activity, whereas the ethanediamine derivatives, albeit being structurally more closely related to prazosin, were devoid of this property. The most active derivative, N-[3-[(4-amino-6, 7-dimethoxy-2-quinazolinyl)methylamino]propyl]tetrahydro-2-furancarbo xamide hydrochloride, alfuzosin (12), showed high selectivity for peripheral alpha 1-postjunctional adrenoceptors. At equiactive antihypertensive doses, its effect on the pressor response to postural changes in conscious dog was less marked than that shown by prazosin. In the light of these results, alfuzosin was selected for clinical evaluation.

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The antihypertensive properties of nicardipine have been studied in various experimental models of hypertension. Furthermore, the possible contribution of the nicardipine-alpha-adrenergic system interaction to the drug's antihypertensive effect has been investigated. In the conscious normotensive rat, nicardipine (10 and 30 mg/kg, orally) reduces arterial blood pressure (by about 25%) and increases heart rate; these effects are maximal one hour after drug administration and disappear within 4 to 6 hours. In the renovascular hypertensive rat and in the Grollman hypertensive dog, nicardipine (3 mg/kg, orally) significantly decreases blood pressure. Simultaneously, heart rate is increased in the dog but is not significantly modified in the rat. In the conscious adult spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), nicardipine administered either as a bolus, or by intra arterial perfusion (1, 5, 12.5 micrograms/kg/min during 30 min), or orally (10, 30 mg/kg) dose-dependently decreases blood pressure and increases heart rate. In the pithed SHR, nicardipine decreases systemic pressor and regional (kidney, mesentery, hindlimb) vasopressor responses to M7, an alpha 2-adrenoceptor specific agonist, but does not affect those to cirazoline, an alpha 1-adrenoceptor specific agonist. However, there is no evidence for an involvement of this alpha 2-sympathoinhibitory effect in the blood pressure lowering action of nicardipine. In conclusion, in the different investigated experimental models of hypertension, nicardipine exerts a potent but short-lasting antihypertensive effect generally accompanied by a reflex tachycardia and a systemic and regional vascular alpha 2-sympathoinhibitory action.

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In conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats, pergolide (50.0 micrograms/kg s.c.) produced a sustained decrease in tail artery pressure which was blocked by haloperidol (1.0 mg/kg s.c.) pretreatment. In anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats this effect was accompanied by a fall in total peripheral resistance inasmuch as pergolide did not significantly change cardiac output. In anesthetized normotensive rats, pergolide (30.0 micrograms/kg i.v.) also lowered blood pressure. This effect was not significantly modified by adrenalectomy, methysergide, idazoxan (alpha-2 adrenoceptor antagonist), vagotomy alone or plus ligation of carotid arteries or plus atenolol, but was entirely prevented by domperidone or sulpiride pretreatment and was reverted to a pressor response (due to stimulation of alpha adrenoceptors and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors) by blockade of ganglionic transmission with chlorisondamine. Pergolide given either i.v. or into the cisterna magna or the lateral cerebral ventricle produced changes in blood pressure of the same magnitude. In intact or adrenalectomized rats, i.v. pergolide significantly lowered plasma norepinephrine concentration. Furthermore, in saline but not sulpiride-pretreated pithed rats, pergolide reduced the pressor responses and the accompanying increases in plasma norepinephrine evoked by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. However, pergolide failed to modify the vascular reactivity to several pressor agents and lacked beta-2 and DA-1 dopamine receptor agonist properties. These results indicate that the decrease in blood pressure produced by pergolide can be accounted for by an inhibition of sympathetic tone resulting from stimulation of peripheral neuronal dopamine receptors. A possible central contribution remains to be substantiated. The pronounced bradycardia produced by pergolide (30.0 micrograms/kg i.v.) in anesthetized intact rats was partly reduced by vagotomy, methylatropine, domperidone, sulpiride, idazoxan, phentolamine or atenolol. The effects of pergolide in vagotomized rats were further diminished by domperidone but they were blocked by the combination of phentolamine or idazoxan plus domperidone. In rats pretreated with atenolol or in rats with the cervical section of spinal cord and the low level of heart rate increased with an isoprenaline infusion, the decrease in heart rate produced by pergolide was abolished by domperidone, methylatropine or idazoxan. In pithed rats, pergolide changed neither the base-line heart rate nor the tachycardia to exogenous norepinephrine nor the bradycardia evoked by carbachol or electrical stimulation of the peripheral cervical vagus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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This work was undertaken to investigate whether diltiazem and verapamil, two blockers of the voltage-activated calcium channel, interfered with vascular smooth muscle responses mediated by stimulation of alpha 1- or alpha 2-adrenoceptors. In pithed rats (and in isolated canine saphenous vein strips) cirazoline behaved as a preferential alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist, since its pressor (and contractile) effects were blocked selectively by the alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonist prazosin and were relatively unaffected by the alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonist yohimbine. In the same preparations, M-7 (2,N,N-dimethylamino-5,6-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene) exhibited preferential alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist properties. The pressor response to M-7 developed much more slowly than that to cirazoline, M-7 requiring approximately twice as long as cirazoline to reach the same peak effect. Pithed rats received a 30-minute intravenous infusion of either diltiazem (12.5-25.0 micrograms/kg per min) or verapamil (6.2-12.5 micrograms/kg per min) that was continued while dose-response curves to M-7 and cirazoline were generated. These compounds depressed the maxima and the slopes of arterial pressure dose-response curves to M-7 but not cirazoline. In canine saphenous vein strips, diltiazem did not change the contractile response to cirazoline but inhibited those to M-7. Verapamil however did antagonize the responses to cirazoline although significantly less than those to M-7. These results indicate that diltiazem and verapamil preferentially inhibit alpha 2-adrenoceptor-mediated responses. The hypothesis is advanced that the pharmacomechanical coupling for alpha 2-adrenoceptors involves a receptor-operated calcium channel that is sensitive to diltiazem and verapamil and, thus, might become activated when the potential across the cellular membrane attains critical values.

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Clonidine and oxymetazoline (4.0 microgram/kg i.v. or i.a.) evoked a marked bradycardia in either methylatropine-pretreated conscious or pentobarbital-anesthetized (55 mg/kg i.p.), vagotomized rats. Urethane (1.2 g/kg i.p.) inhibited by more than 50% this effect which is mediated through the stimulation of peripheral and/or central neuronal alpha-2 adrenoceptors. However, in adrenalectomized rats only the inhibition of oxymetazoline by urethane was significantly less pronounced. In pithed rats in which the adrenal glands were either left untouched or surgically removed, urethane significantly attenuated the clonidine or oxymetazoline-induced decreases in experimental neural sympathetic tachycardia although it neither changed the base-line nor the experimentally elevated heart rate. Urethane, in contrast to pentobarbital, increased plasma epinephrine concentrations in intact but not in adrenalectomized or in pithed rats. Elevation of plasma epinephrine did not result from the low arterial pressure level associated with urethane anesthesia since the increase of this parameter with vasopressin did not abolish the effect of urethane. Furthermore, guanethidine-pretreated rats, when anesthetized with urethane, exhibited a higher heart rate and plasma adrenaline value than those anesthetized with pentobarbital. The elevated heart rate was decreased by either propranolol or adrenalectomy. The bradycardia produced by injecting clonidine into the lateral cerebral ventricles of either intact or adrenalectomized rats was markedly less in urethane- than in pentobarbital-anesthetized animals. Whereas in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats the peak heart rate effects of i.v. or i.c.v. clonidine were similar, in urethane-anesthetized animals the effects of clonidine were more inhibited when it was given centrally than when it was given peripherally. In pithed rats, the cumulative dose-pressor response curves elicited by the relatively selective alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists, B-HT 930 and M-7, were depressed by urethane significantly more than those produced by the relatively selective alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonists, phenylephrine and cirazoline, or by angiotensin II. Urethane also decreased the pressor responses evoked by clonidine, oxymetazoline and norepinephrine which stimulate both alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenoceptors. However, the extent of this inhibition was less than that of B-HT 920 and M-7 but greater than that of cirazoline and phenylephrine. These results show that urethane inhibits cardiovascular responses that are mediated by peripheral and central alpha-2 adrenoceptors. Furthermore, urethane increases the central drive to the adrenal medulla and this leads to the secretion of epinephrine. This may be partly responsible for the inhibitory activity of urethane on oxymetazoline-induced bradycardia. Although the basic mechanism by which urethane impairs responses mediated by alpha-2 adrenoceptors remains to be determined, it is advised that urethane anesthesia should be avoided, particularly for cardiovascular studies.

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In pithed rats, i.v. injection of cirazoline produced pressure effects which were antagonized in a competitive manner by the relatively selective alpha-1 adrenoceptor blocker, prazosin (0.01--0.1 mg/kg i.v.) but not by the relatively selective alpha-2 adrenoceptor blocker, yohimbine (0.3 mg/kg i.v.). The latter agent, however, inhibited the increases in arterial pressure produced by UK-14,304, a preferential alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist. In contrast, both yohimbine and prazosin reduced the pressor effects of clonidine. In intact anesthetized, vagotomized rats or in pithed rats with a submaximal tachycardia evoked by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, clonidine and oxymetazoline, in contrast to cirazoline (5.0 micrograms/kg i.v.), decreased heart rate through excitation of alpha-2 adrenoceptors. This lack of effect of cirazoline was not due to a concomitant pre- or postjunctional action of cirazoline leading to an enhanced chronotropic response to released norepinephrine because in phentolamine-pretreated rats cirazoline did not modify the neural sympathetic tachycardia. Although cirazoline potentiated the heart rate elevated by an i.v. infusion of either norepinephrine, isoproterenol, or aminophylline, this effect was probably of hemodynamic origin. In pithed rats with a submaximal neural tachycardia, cirazoline, like phentolamine (10.0--30.0 micrograms/kg i.v.), inhibited the decrease in heart rate produced by clonidine, suggesting that it possesses alpha-2 adrenoceptor blocking properties. In spinal dogs, cirazoline (10.0 micrograms/kg i.v.) modified neither base-line heart rate nor the tachycardia evoked by an intracoronary artery infusion of norepinephrine. In the same preparation, continuous electrical stimulation of cardioaccelerator sympathetic nerve fibers produced a sustained positive chronotropic effect accompanied by an increase in the coronary sinus venous plasma norepinephrine content. Neither parameter was significantly changed by cirazoline; however, clonidine at the same dose as used for cirazoline produced approximately 50% inhibition of the experimental neural tachycardia. Finally, cirazoline, like phentolamine at 10.0 micrograms/kg i.v., failed to block, cardiac presynaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptors in the spinal dog. These results indicate that cirazoline is a potent alpha-1 adrenoceptor agonist that lacks cardiac presynaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptor stimulant properties in either dogs or rats. In the latter species, cirazoline was found also to block cardiac presynaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptors.

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The dopamine receptors of the peripheral cardiovascular system are not a pharmacologically uniform population. A number of studies indicate that they belong to at least two distinct subtypes for which it is proposed to adopt the name DA1- and DA2-dopamine receptors in an attempt to follow the nomenclature presently in fashion for several vascular receptors. Typical DA1-dopamine receptors are those occurring postjunctionally in the renal and mesenteric arterial beds where their stimulation mediates direct smooth muscle relaxation. Typical DA2-dopamine receptors are those present on postganglionic sympathetic neurons (axonal varicosities and perhaps ganglionic cell bodies) where their excitation leads, under appropriate physiological conditions, to a reduction of the neural release of norepinephrine. The latter effect can manifest itself by a passive fall in vascular resistance and heart rate. Other populations of dopamine receptors not yet well characterized pharmacologically but of theoretical interest as additional potential target sites for cardiovascular drugs might be present on nephrons and in the adrenal cortex. Their stimulation can mediate a natriuretic effect and a reduction of aldosterone release, respectively. The pharmacological evidence favoring the subclassification of cardiovascular dopamine receptors into two distinct subtypes is reviewed. Furthermore, the main agonists and antagonists of these receptors and the complexity of their pharmacological profile are mentioned. Part II of this minireview will be dedicated to the description of the sites and mechanisms of the antihypertensive action of dopamine receptor agonists.

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1 In rats anaesthetized with pentobarbitone, intravenous administration of desipramine (0.1 mg/kg), maprotiline (0.5 mg/kg) or mianserin (0.3-3.0 mg/kg) did not modify the blood pressure lowering effects of acetylcholine (0.25-1.0 micrograms/kg, i.v.) which were significantly reduced by atropine (3.0 micrograms/kg, i.v.). 2 Maprotiline and mianserin, like promethazine (0.1 mg/kg, i.v.), inhibited the vasodepressor responses evoked by histamine (2.5-10.0 micrograms/kg,i.v.). however, desipramine was inactive against histamine. 3 In pithed rats, the pressor effects of intravenous 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT: 5.0-20.0 micrograms/kg) were antagonized by mianserin (0.01-0.3 mg/kg, i.v.) and cyproheptadine (0.01 mg/kg) but were unaffected by maprotiline and desipramine. 4 In syrosingopine pretreated rats given mianserin 0.1 mg/kg, intravenously, 5-HT (20.0 micrograms/kg, i.v.) produced a significant fall in blood pressure which could be reduced by a large dose of mianserin (10.0 mg/kg, i.v.). 5 In conclusion, desipramine, maptrotiline and mianserin, in doses previously found to inhibit noradrenaline neuronal reuptake in the rat cardiovascular system, lack muscarinic receptor antagonist properties. Whilst maprotiline and mianserin blocked vascular histamine receptors, only mianserin (10.0 mg/kg, i.v.). 5 In conclusion, desipramine, maptrotiline and mianserin, in doses previously found to inhibit noradrenaline neuronal reuptake in the rat cardiovascular system, lack muscarinic receptor antagonist properties. Whilst maprotiline and mianserin blocked vascular histamine receptors, only mianserin, like cyproheptadine, was a potent antagonist of the 5-HT receptors that mediate increases in blood pressure in rats. Finally, the vasodepressor effects of 5-HT in syrosingopine pretreated rats given a small dose of mianserin were antagonized by a large dose of mianserin, suggesting that 5-HT may activate two distinct types of receptors in the rat.

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In conscious or pentobarbital-anesthetized hypertensive or normotensive rats, N,N-di-n-propyl-dopamine (DPDA) produced sustained decreases in mean systemic arterial blood pressure. In anesthetized normotensive animals, these responses were not significantly changed by vagotomy, desipramine, indomethacin, methylatropine, promethazine or propranolol, were markedly reduced by phenoxybenzamine or phentolamine, were entirely blocked by domperidone, haloperidol or sulpiride and were reverted to an alpha adrenoceptor-mediated pressor response after removal of central sympathetic tone. In phenoxybenzamine-pretreated pithed rats in which the blood pressure was elevated to prepithing levels with vasopressin, DPDA, in contrast to dopamine, produced no hypotensive effect. In the pithed rat, DPDA reduced the pressor responses elicited by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord and this effect was inhibited by haloperidol or sulpiride. DPDA slightly enhanced the pressor effects of norepinephrine but modified neither the blood pressure increases produced by epinephrine, phenylephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine or angiotension II nor the vasodepressor effects of acetylcholine, histamine or salbutamol. Intracerebroventricular administration of DPDA produced blood pressure decreases which were slightly smaller in magnitude but longer in duration than those elicited by i.v. DPDA. However, DPDA leaked from the cerebroventricular space into the peripheral circulation. These results indicate that in the rat DPDA lowers blood pressure via activation of peripheral dopamine receptors possibly located presynaptically on vascular sympathetic neurons. The stimulation of these receptors induces a decrease in norepinephrine release which in turn is followed by a passive relaxation of the vascular beds under active sympathetic constriction.

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1. The aim of this investigation was to provide support for the hypothesis that stimulation of peripheral dopamine receptors reduces sympathetic vasomotor tone and thus may be a mechanism for novel antihypertensive agents. 2. NN-Di-n-propyldopamine (DPDA: 0.03-0.1 mg min-1 kg-1 intra-arterially) produced sustained decreases in blood pressure measured from the cannulated tail artery in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats. 3. This antihypertensive action of DPDA was antagonized by sulpiride but not by atropine, promethazine, propranolol or indomethacin. 4. DPDA failed to lower blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats in which peripheral stores of catecholamines had been previously depleted with syrosingopine. 5. In the pithed atropine-pretreated spontaneously hypertensive rats in which the low blood pressure was elevated by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, DPDA produced hypotensive effects which were antagonized by sulpiride. However, DPDA, in contrast to phentolamine, did not modify the blood pressure raised by an infusion of adrenaline. 6. In conclusion, the blood pressure-lowering action of DPDA is due to stimulation of dopamine receptors which decreases noradrenaline release and consequently sympathetic vasomotor tone. These receptors may be located on sympathetic ganglia or sympathetic endings innervating resistance vessels.

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1 The cardiovascular effects of intravenous desipramine (0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg), maprotiline (0.5 mg/kg), mianserin (1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg) and phentolamine (0.25 mg/kg) were examined and compared in pithed rats. Several experimental procedures were used in order to distinguish between the effects of the compounds on cardiac presynaptic alpha-adrenoceptors and on neuronal noradrenaline reuptake, as inhibition of either mechanism produces an increase of neurotransmitter concentration within the sympathetic synapse and therefore results in a greater end organ response.2 Pressor responses elicited by noradrenaline were potentiated by desipramine and maprotiline, reduced by phentolamine and not significantly modified by mianserin. However, all four compounds inhibited the pressor action of tyramine. Furthermore, mianserin reduced the pressor response to adrenaline.3 Desipramine, maprotiline and mianserin, but not phentolamine enhanced the positive chronotropic effects of noradrenaline, without affecting those of isoprenaline.4 All four compounds abolished the clonidine-induced inhibition of heart rate responses to short term electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. Moreover, in rats with a persistent tachycardia (induced by continuous stimulation of the thoracic spinal cord) desipramine, maprotiline and mianserin further increased heart rate. This effect was also observed in animals pretreated with phentolamine, administered in order to inhibit cardiac presynaptic alpha-adrenoceptors.5 In rats with a sustained tachycardia (100 beats/min produced by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord) both mianserin and phentolamine, in contrast to desipramine, shifted the clonidine heart rate dose-response curve to the right. Phentolamine was about 34 times more potent than mianserin in this respect.6 In pithed, reserpine-treated rats, the pressor responses to clonidine were not significantly modified by desipramine. The dose-response curves were shifted to the right by phentolamine (0.25 mg/kg) and mianserin (3.0 mg/kg).7 These results indicate that mianserin is an antagonist of both cardiac presynaptic and vascular postsynaptic alpha-adrenoceptors and also inhibits the neuronal reuptake of noradrenaline.

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