Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between affinity and efficacy for the epinephrine enantiomers in rat tissues. Potency and was measured for (-)- and (+)-epinephrine in aorta, longitudinal muscle of portal vein, spleen and vas deferens. After partial alpha-adrenoreceptor inactivation with phenoxybenzamine, dissociation constant was estimated for each enantiomer and used to estimate efficacy. Whereas potency, affinity and efficacy vary between tissues, there is a constant relationship between (-)- and (+)-enantiomer; the enantiomeric ratio is constant for both potency and affinity. Efficacy is similar for the enantiomers in each tissue. The potency difference between epinephrine enantiomers at alpha-adrenoreceptors in rat tissues is due to differences in affinity rather than efficacy.
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