Alpha 1-adrenoceptor subtype distribution and the coupling to phosphoinositide hydrolysis in rat and rabbit ventricular myocardium.

The relative contributions of the alpha 1A- and alpha 1B-adrenoceptor subtypes to the stimulation of phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis in rat and rabbit ventricular myocardium were defined pharmacologically using WB-4101 and chloroethylclonidine (CEC). Radioligand binding experiments with [3H]prazosin showed that the maximum number of alpha 1A-adrenoceptors in rat myocardium was about ten times higher than in rabbit myocardium. The proportion of the two [3H]prazosin binding sites with high and low affinity for WB-4101 was similar in the two species: approximately 30% of the alpha 1-adrenoceptor population was pharmacologically alpha 1A and approximately 70% was alpha 1B. Phenylephrine produced concentration-dependent stimulation of PI hydrolysis in rat ventricular strips as measured by [3H]inositol monophosphate accumulation, but this stimulation was much less in rabbit. In both of the two species, WB-4101 was very effective in inhibiting phenylephrine-stimulated PI hydrolysis, whereas CEC had a minimal effect. Altogether, the degree of PI hydrolysis appears to be determined by the density of myocardial alpha 1-adrenoceptors. However, despite the greater density of the alpha 1B-subtype, it is the alpha 1A-subtype that is mainly coupled to PI hydrolysis in mammalian myocardium.