Human alpha 2-adrenergic receptor subtype distribution: widespread and subtype-selective expression of alpha 2C10, alpha 2C4, and alpha 2C2 mRNA in multiple tissues.

At present, molecular cloning and pharmacological studies have delineated three human alpha 2-adrenergic receptor (alpha 2AR) subtypes, alpha 2C10, alpha 2C4, and alpha 2C2. Assignment of the alpha 2AR subtypes to specific functions has been limited by an unclear definition of tissue alpha 2AR expression outside of the central nervous system. It has been suggested that alpha 2C4 expression is confined to the brain, that alpha 2C2 expression is only in the liver and kidney, and that there is nearly ubiquitous expression of alpha 2C10. However, this is based on studies of a limited number of rat tissues or on studies using non-species-specific approaches. Therefore, to define alpha 2C10, alpha 2C4, and alpha 2C2 tissue expression, we used reverse transcription of total RNA isolated from 20 human tissues, followed by amplification of alpha 2AR cDNA using the polymerase chain reaction. This technique provided two advantages: high sensitivity and, with the use of subtype-specific oligonucleotide primers and probes, differentiation between the alpha 2AR subtypes. The tissues studied were aorta, vena cava, heart (epicardium and endocardium), lung, skeletal muscle, liver, pancreas (head and tail), fat (perinephric and subcutaneous), kidney (cortex and medulla), prostate, stomach, ileum, jejunum, colon, adrenal gland, and spleen. We found that the majority of these tissues expressed alpha 2C10, with the exceptions being the head of the pancreas, subcutaneous fat, colon, and spleen. In marked distinction to other studies, however, we found a prolific expression of the alpha 2C4 and alpha 2C2 subtypes. Expression of alpha 2C4 was found in all tissues with the exception of liver, fat, stomach, and colon, and a virtually ubiquitous expression of alpha 2C2 was found, with the exception of epicardium. Of all tissues studied, only colon and subcutaneous fat expressed a single alpha 2AR subtype, which was alpha 2C2. Thus, the alpha 2AR subtypes do not have a confined expression but appear to be widely distributed in humans and display subtype-specific expression in some tissues.