PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Kelly A. Berg AU - Brian D. Stout AU - Jodie D. Cropper AU - Saul Maayani AU - William P. Clarke TI - Novel Actions of Inverse Agonists on 5-HT<sub>2C</sub> Receptor Systems DP - 1999 May 01 TA - Molecular Pharmacology PG - 863--872 VI - 55 IP - 5 4099 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/55/5/863.short 4100 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/55/5/863.full SO - Mol Pharmacol1999 May 01; 55 AB - In cell systems where ligand-independent receptor activity is optimized (such as when receptors are overexpressed or mutated), acute treatment with inverse agonists reduces basal effector activity whereas prolonged exposure leads to sensitization of receptor systems and receptor up-regulation. Few studies, however, have reported effects of inverse agonists in systems where nonmutated receptors are expressed at relatively low density. Here, we investigated the effects of inverse agonists at human serotonin (5-HT)2C receptors expressed stably in Chinese hamster ovary cells (≈250 fmol/mg protein). In these cells, there is no receptor reserve for 5-HT and 5-HT2C inverse agonists did not reduce basal inositol phosphate (IP) accumulation nor arachidonic acid (AA) release but behaved as simple competitive antagonists, suggesting that these receptors are not overexpressed. Prolonged treatment (24 h) with inverse agonists enhanced selectively 5-HT2C-mediated IP accumulation but not AA release. The enhancing effect occurred within 4 h of treatment, reversed within 3 to 4 h (after 24-h treatment), and could be blocked with neutral antagonists or weak positive agonists. The enhanced responsiveness was not due to receptor up-regulation but may involve changes in the expression of the G protein, Gαq/11 and possibly Gα12 and Gα13. Interestingly, 24-h exposure to inverse agonists acting at 5-HT2C receptors also selectively enhanced IP accumulation, but not AA release, elicited by activation of endogenous purinergic receptors. These data suggest that actions of inverse agonists may be mediated through effects on receptor systems that are not direct targets for these drugs. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics