Abstract
Administration to rats of the selective beta-2 adrenoceptor agonist (+/-)-clenbuterol (CLEN) (0.3 mg.kg-1 s.c., twice daily for 14 days) decreased the relaxant responses to the beta adrenoceptor agonist (-)-isoproterenol (IS) and to CLEN in KCl-contracted aortic rings. The treatment did not modify the vasodilation induced by forskolin (a direct activator of the catalytic subunit of the adenylate cyclase), 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (a phosphodiesterase inhibitor), adenosine or acetylcholine. IS increased (cAMP) cyclic AMP levels dose-dependently in rat aorta, and this effect was reduced markedly in arteries from CLEN-treated rats. By contrast, the treatment did not modify the forskolin-induced cAMP production. The contractile response to (-)-norepinephrine (NE) was inhibited in the presence of IS or CLEN in control aortic rings. However, this modulatory effect was not seen in arteries from CLEN-treated rats. Preincubation of the arteries with either cholera toxin (an activator of the stimulatory guanine nucleotide binding protein, Gs) or forskolin reduced NE-induced vasoconstriction to the same extent in aortic rings from both control and CLEN-treated rats. The chronotropic response to NE in rat atria (beta-1-mediated) was not affected by the treatment. These results suggest that prolonged administration of CLEN to rats induced desensitization of beta-2 adrenoceptor-mediated vascular relaxation by alterations at the level of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor, but not in the mechanisms related to Gs, adenylate cyclase or in those distal to cAMP production.
JPET articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years.Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page.
|