Competitive interaction of agonists and antagonists with 5-HT3 recognition sites in membranes of neuroblastoma cells labelled with [3H]ICS 205-930.

[3H]ICS 205-930 labelled 5-HT3 recognition sites in membranes prepared from murine neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells. Binding was rapid, reversible, saturable and stereoselective to an apparently homogeneous population of sites. Kinetic studies revealed that agonists and antagonists produced a monophasic dissociation reaction of [3H]ICS 205-930 from its recognition sites. The dissociation rate constant of the radioligand was similar whether the dissociation was induced by an agonist or an antagonist. Competition studies carried out with agonists and antagonists also suggested the presence of a homogeneous population of [3H]ICS 205-930 recognition sites. Competition curves were best fit for a 1 site model. [3H]ICS 205-930 binding sites displayed the pharmacological profile of a 5-HT3 receptor. The interactions of agonists and antagonists with [3H]ICS 205-930 recognition sites were apparently competitive in nature, as demonstrated in kinetic and equilibrium experiments. In saturation experiments carried out with [3H]ICS 205-930 in the presence and the absence of unlabelled agonists and antagonists, apparent Bmax values were not reduced whereas apparent Kd values were increased in the presence of competing ligands. There was a good agreement between apparent pKB values calculated for the competing ligands in saturation experiments and pKd values calculated from competition experiments. The present data demonstrate that [3H]ICS 205-930 labels a homogeneous population of sites at which agonists and antagonists interact competitively.