Long-term effects of N-2-chlorethyl-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine hydrochloride on noradrenergic neurones in the rat brain and heart.

1 N-2-Chlorethyl-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine hydrochloride (DSP 4) 50 mg/kg intraperitoneally, produced a long-term decrease in the capacity of brain homogenates to accumulate noradrenaline with significant effect 8 months after the injection. It had no effect on the noradrenaline uptake in homogenates from the striatum (dopamine neurones) and on the uptake of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in various brain regions. 2 In vitro DSP 4 inhibited the noradrenaline uptake in a cortical homogenate with an IC50 value of 2 muM but was more than ten times less active on the dopamine uptake in a striatal homogenate and the 5-HT uptake in a cortical homogenate. 3 DSP 4 (50 mg/kg i.p.) inhibited the uptake of noradrenaline in the rat heart atrium in vitro but this action was terminated within 2 weeks. 4 DSP 4 (50 mg/kg i.p.) cuased a decrease in the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activity in the rat brain and heart. The onset of this effect was slow; in heart a lag period of 2-4 days was noted. In brain the DBH-activity in cerebral cortex was much more decreased than that in hypothalamus which was only slightly affected. A significant effect was still found 8 months after the injection. The noradrenaline concentration in the brain was greatly decreased for at least two weeks, whereas noradrenaline in heart was only temporarily reduced. 5 The long-term effects of DSP 4 on the noradrenaline accumulation, the DBH activity and noradrenaline concentration in the rat brain were antagonized by desipramine (10 mg/kg i.p.). 6 It is suggested that DSP 4 primarily attacks the membranal noradrenaline uptake sites forming a covalent bond and that the nerve terminals, as a result of this binding, degenerate.