Abstract
With the development of radioligand binding assays for identifying hormone receptors directly, it has become evident that the number of receptors in a particular cell or tissue does not remain constant but can in fact, be regulated by a variety of agents1. Receptor concentrations decrease with exposure to homologous hormone (called densitization or down-regulation) but may be affected differently by heterologous hormones. Thus in the adrenergic contractile response of rabbit myometrium, mediated by α-adrenergic receptors2, the concentration of α-adrenergic receptors is regulated by sex steroids3,4. This oestrogen treatment increases the concentration of myometrial α-adrenergic receptors approximately threefold over that measured in myometrium from immature rabbits, and, furthermore, is accompanied by an increased contractile response to catecholamines5. We report here that, after 24 h in organ culture. rabbit myometrium is more sensitive to α-adrenergic stimulation in vitro, and that particulate fractions prepared from cultured myometrium have a threefold increase in αadrenergic receptors but not β-adrenergic receptors when compared with myometrium that has not been cultured. Our results suggest that the myometrium α-adrenergic receptor, in addition to being regulated by oestrogen, seems to be under tonic inhibitory control in vivo and that this control may only in part be accounted for by catecholamines.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Catt, K. J., Harwood, S. P., Aguilera, G. & Dufau, M. L. Nature 280, 109–116 (1979).
Ahlquist, R. P. Am. J. Physiol. 153, 586–600 (1948).
Williams, L. T. & Lefkowitz, R. J. J. clin. Invest. 60, 815–818 (1977).
Roberts, J. M., Insel, P. A., Goldfien, R. D. & Goldfien, A. Nature 270, 624–625 (1977).
Roberts, J. M., Goldfien, R. D., Goldfien, A. & Insel, P. A. in Catecholamines: Basic and Clinical Frontiers Vol. 1 (eds Usdin, E., Kopin, I. J. & Barchas, J.) 441–443 (Pergamon, New York, 1979).
Williams, L. T., Mullikin, D. & Lefkowitz, R. J. J. biol. Chem. 251, 6951–6923 (1979).
Giles, K. W. & Myers, A. Nature 206, 93 (1965).
Bradford, M. M. Analyt. Biochem. 72, 248–254 (1976).
Solymon, A. & Trams, E. G. Enzyme 13, 329–372 (1972).
Chen, P. S., Toribora, T. Y. & Warner, H. Analyt. Chem. 28, 1753–1758 (1956).
Cheng, Y. & Prusoff, W. H. Biochem. Pharmac. 22, 3099–3108 (1973).
Fleming, W. W. Fedn Proc. 34, 1969–1970 (1975).
Fleming, W. W., McPhillips, J. J. & Westfall, D. P. Ergebn. Physiol. 68, 55–119. (1973).
Fleming, W. W. Rev. Neurosci. 2, 43–90 (1976).
Martinez, J. R. & Quisell, D. O. J. Pharmac. exp. Ther. 201, 206–217 (1977).
Pointon, S. E. & Barnerjee, S. P. Biochim. biophys. Acta 548, 231–241 (1979).
Carrier, O. & Jurevics, H. A. J. Pharmac. exp. Ther. 184, 81–94 (1973).
Taylor, P. in Pharmacologic Basis of Therapeutics (eds Gilman, A. G., Goodman, L. S. & Gilman, A.) 211–219 (Macmillan, New York, 1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cornett, L., Goldfien, A. & Roberts, J. Tonic in vivo inhibition of rabbit myometrial adrenergic receptors. Nature 292, 623–625 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292623a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292623a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
