Investigations into the cardiac effects of tolazoline in guinea pig atria and ventricular strips.

The positive inotropic, chronotropic and cyclic AMP producing effects of tolazoline were studied on atrial and ventricular preparations obtained from guinea pig heart. (1) The direct positive inotropic effects of tolazoline on the paced left atrial preparation from the guinea pig hearts was blocked by promethazine, but not by burimamide. Tolazoline did not elevate cyclic AMP levels in this preparation. (2) Tolazoline produced a positive chronotropic effect which was blocked by burimamide and not by promethazine and caused a 2-3 fold elevation of cyclic AMP in spontaneously beating right atria. (3) Burimamide antagonized the inotropic and cyclic AMP increasing effects of tolazoline on electrically driven ventricular strips. (4) The effects of tolazoline were unchanged by reserpine pretreatment of the guinea pigs or by prior exposure to phentolamine or propranolol. (5) These results suggest that tolazoline can activate both H1 and H2 receptors in the guinea pig heart. Furthermore the data suggests that H2 receptors are present in right atria and ventricle and that such receptors are associated with cyclic AMP. H1 receptors are present in the left atria and are not associated with the cyclic nucleotide.