Correlations between hydrophobicity and non-specific pharmacological effects of beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents.

It was the aim of this study to test whether the non-specific pharmacological activities of the beta-adrenergic blocking drugs can be predicted by estimation of the hydrophobicity of the compounds. Srong correlations were obtained between the octanol buffer partition coefficients and the ability of the drugs to decrease conduction velocity of the isolated frog heart, to raise the electrically induced ventricular fibrillation threshold in guinea pigs, and to depress ventricular contractility in the cat. The strong correlations between the partition coefficients and the pharmacological actions suggest that estimation of the hydrophobicity of the beta-adrenergic blocking drugs is suitable to predict the non-specific pharmacological properties.