Search

Stimulation-evoked tritium overflow was examined in superfused rat brain cortex slices (stimulus: electrical impulses; 3 Hz) and synaptosomes (stimulus: potassium 12 mmol/l) preincubated with 3H-5-HT. 1. In slices and synaptosomes, the evoked 3H overflow was facilitated by forskolin and 8-Br-cAMP, but was not affected by AH 21-132 (an inhibitor of cAMP phosphodiesterase; cis-6-(p-acetamidophenyl)-1,2,3,4,4a,10b-hexahydro-8,9-dimethoxy-2-methylbenzo [c] [1,6]-naphthyridine). In the presence of AH 21-132, the facilitatory effect of forskolin on evoked overflow was increased. 2. In slices, AH 21-132 or combined administration of forskolin plus AH 21-132 did not change the percentage of basal or evoked 3H overflow represented by unmetabolized 3H-serotonin (about 30% and 60%, respectively). 3. In slices, cocaine or 6-nitroquipazine, an inhibitor of serotonin uptake, did not influence the increase in evoked overflow produced by forskolin plus AH-21-132. Forskolin plus AH 21-132 did not alter the inhibitory effect of serotonin (examined in the presence of 6-nitroquipazine) and the facilitatory effect of metitepin (a serotonin receptor antagonist) on evoked 3H overflow, but considerably decreased the inhibitory effect of clonidine or B-HT 920 (2-amino-6-allyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-thiazolo-[5,4-d]-azepine). The present results suggest that the serotoninergic nerve terminals in the rat brain cortex are endowed with an adenylate cyclase, which is negatively coupled to the presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors, but is not linked to the presynaptic autoreceptors.

After incubation with 3H-noradrenaline, strips of human pulmonary arteries from patients undergoing surgery for lung tumour were superfused with physiological salt solution containing cocaine and corticosterone. Forskolin, AH 21-132 (a cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor), 8-Br-cAMP and isoprenaline did not affect the basal tritium efflux from the strips, but produced a concentration-dependent facilitation of the tritium overflow evoked by transmural electrical stimulation (2 Hz). The facilitatory effect of isoprenaline was potentiated by forskolin which produced a shift to the left of the concentration-response curve of isoprenaline. It is concluded that cAMP plays a role in the modulation of noradrenaline release in the human pulmonary artery and that presynaptic beta-adrenoceptors appear to be coupled to an adenylate cyclase in the sympathetic nerve terminals.