Elsevier

European Journal of Pharmacology

Volume 202, Issue 2, 17 September 1991, Pages 235-243
European Journal of Pharmacology

Regular paper
Delineation of rat kidney α2A- and α2B-adrenoeeptors with [3H]RX821002 radiollgand binding: computer modelling reveals that guanfacine is an α2A-selective compound

https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-2999(91)90299-6Get rights and content

Abstract

We developed a method for the simultaneous determination of drug affinity constants for rat α2A- and α2B-adrenoceptor subtypes by using [3H]RX821002 radioligand binding in the kidney. Three competition curves were obtained for each drug: one for the test compound in the absence of ARC 239 (a drug found to have 108-fold higher affinity for α2B- than for α2A-adrencceptors), one in the presence of ARC 239, and one for ARC 239. It is possible to determine the Kds of a tested drug for both α2A- and α2B-adrenoceptors by simultaneous computer modelling because of the increased constrain; in the calculations given by the inclusion of ARC 239 into the assay. Using this approach, we found guanfacine and oxymetazoline to be highly α2A-seIective, The most α2B-selective were ARC 239, prazosin and corynanthine. A number of other drugs, for example UK-14,304, rilmenidine and clonidine, were non-selective or showed minor selectivity for α2A- or α2A-adrenoceptors. Moreover, using Monte Carlo simulations, we showed that the three-curve method gives more accurate estimates of drug binding constants for assays when two receptor sites arc present than methods analysing only one competition curve.

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