Effects of electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve on the levels of cholinergic muscarinic and beta-adrenergic receptors and cyclic nucleotides in rat salivary glands.

Density of muscarinic receptors of rat parotid gland, although unchanged after 5 or 10 min of stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve to the gland, showed a decrease of 23% following a 15-min period of stimulation. After 30 min the decrease was 19% but by 60 min density of receptors returned to within 5% of receptor density of the unstimulated gland; there was virtually no change in density of beta adrenoceptors at any time during the 60 min of stimulation. Markedly elevated (30-fold increase) levels of cyclic GMP appeared within 5 min after initiation of nerve stimulation and remained at this level at 10 min, but dropped from 90 to 46 pmol/mg total protein by 15 min, the time at which a decrease in muscarinic receptors first was evident. GMP levels continued to decrease but were still four times basal levels after 60 min of stimulation and did not return to normal concentration until 120 min. Cyclic AMP was generally unchanged. These changes in muscarinic receptors and cyclic GMP are apparently closely related to the kind of neural stimulation, unlike the condition when stimulation of the sympathetic nerve was employed.