Frequency- and train length-dependent variation in the roles of postjunctional α1- and α2-adrenoceptors for the field stimulation-induced neurogenic contraction of rat tail artery

The present paper examines the roles of postjunctional α1- and α2-adrenoceptors for the noradrenaline (NA)-induced neurogenic contractile response to field stimulation mainly with 1–100 pulses at 2 or 20 Hz, in the tail artery of adult normotensive rats. Pharmacological tools were employed to isolate and characterize the α1- and α2-adrenoceptor-mediated components of this response. The degree to which the drugs influenced NA release or reuptake was assessed by their effects on the electrochemically determined, stimulation-induced rise in the NA concentration at the innervated outer surface of the media. This response was unaffected by α,β-methylene ATP (10 μM) or suramin (500 μM), added to desensitize or block P2-purinoceptors, respectively prazosin (0.1 μM) or SKF it was moderately enhanced by yohimbine (0.1 μM), blocker of pre- and postjunctional α2-adrenoceptors, and strongly enhanced by cocaine (3 μM) or desipramine (1 μM), blockers of NA reuptake. Judging from their inhibitory effects on the contractile responses to the α1- and α2-adrenoceptor agonists, phenylephrine andxylazine, prazosin (0.1 μM)and SK & F 104078 (0.1 μM) could be used to selectively block α1- and α2-adrenoceptors respectively, while yohimbine (0.1 μM) was less selective, strongly depressing α2- and slightly depressing α1-adrenoceptor-mediated responses. The α1-adrenoceptor-mediated component of the contractile response to short trains at 20 Hz was fast in onset, brief in duration and abolished by ryanodine; that mediated by α2-adrenoceptors was more delayed, prolonged and insensitive to ryanodine. Both components were dose-dependently depressed by nifedipine (0.1–10 μM). The small contractile responses to single pulses, or up to 50 pulses at 2 Hz, or short train (< 4 pulses) at 20 Hz, were more markedly depressed by 0.1 μM yohimbine or SK & F 104078 than by 0.1 μM prazosin and, hence, mediated mainly by α2-adrenoceptors. The reverse was true of the much larger response to longer trains at 20 Hz, which thus probably was mediated mainly by α1-adrenoceptors. Cocaine or desipramine, as well as α,β-methylene ATP or suramin, amplified both components of the NA induced contractile response especially that mediated via a1-adrenoceptors and caused by single pulses or short trains.