Predominance of alpha 2-adrenoceptors in porcine thyroid: biochemical and pharmacological correlations.

alpha-Adrenergic agonists such as norepinephrine and clonidine, but not methoxamine, inhibited the increase in cAMP accumulation elicited by TSH in porcine thyroid slices. The inhibitory effect of norepinephrine was abolished by yohimbine but not by prazosin. Likewise, the in vitro release of T4 from the pig thyroid slice stimulated by TSH was inhibited by norepinephrine and the inhibition was antagonized by yohimbine but not by prazosin. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of alpha-adrenergic agonists is mediated through alpha 2-adrenoceptors. Preincubation of the thyroid slices with islet-activating protein, pertussis toxin, decreased the inhibitory effect of norepinephrine on the cAMP content, suggesting the involvement of guanine nucleotide regulatory protein (Ni) in the inhibition mediated through alpha 2-adrenoceptors. Binding studies with [3H]yohimbine and [3H]prazosin to porcine thyroid membranes revealed the specific and saturable binding of both radioligands. Scatchard analysis of the specific binding revealed a single class of binding sites for each radioligand; however, the maximum number of binding sites for [3H]yohimbine was about 10 times more than that for [3H]prazosin. In accordance with the pharmacological results, binding studies showed a predominance of alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the pig thyroid.