There is increasing evidence that members of the natriuretic peptide family display sympathoinhibitory activity, but it remains uncertain which receptor pathway is implicated. We performed cyclic GMP production studies with chromaffin cells treated with either atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) or C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and found that these cells specifically express the ANF-R1C but not the ANF-R1A receptor subtype. Evidence for the existence of ANF-R2 receptors was obtained from patch-clamp experiments where C-ANF, an ANF-R2-specific agonist, inhibited nicotinic currents in single isolated chromaffin cells. Involvement of ANF-R2 receptors in the modulation of nicotinic currents was further supported by the significant loss of this inhibitory activity after the cleavage of the disulfide-bridged structure of C-ANF. This linearized form of C-ANF also displayed a lower binding affinity for ANF-R2 receptors. Like the patch-clamp studies, secretion experiments demonstrated that both CNP and C-ANF are equally effective in reducing nicotine-evoked catecholamine secretion by cultured chromaffin cells, raising the possibility that the effect of CNP is predominantly mediated by the ANF-R2 and not the ANF-R1C receptors. Finally, this response appears to be specific to nicotinic agonists because neither histamine- nor KCl-induced secretions were affected by natriuretic peptides.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)