Existence of two types of postjunctional α-adrenoceptors in the isolated canine internal carotid artery

The pharmacological characteristics of postjunctional α-adrenoceptors in isolated canine internal carotid arteries were investigated by the use of selective agonists and antagonists for α1 and α2-adrenoceptors. Norepinephrine, phenylephrine, and xylazine caused concentration-dependent contractions in the helical strips. The contraction induced by 10−4 M xylazine was significantly smaller than that produced by 10−4 M norepinephrine or 10−4 M phenylephrine. The contraction induced by 10−4 M phenylephrine was almost the same value as that induced by 10−4 M norepinephrine. Phentolamine (10−8 and 10−7 M) caused a parallel shift to the right of the concentration–response curve to norepinephrine. The contractile responses to low concentrations of norepinephrine were significantly suppressed by pretreatment with an α2-antagonist such as yohimbine (10−9 and 10−8 M) or DG 5128(10−7 and 10−6 M). On the other hand, the responses to higher concentrations of norepinephrine were mainly reduced by low concentrations of an α1-antagonist, prazosin (3 × 10−10 and 3 × 10−9 M). These results suggest that both α1- and α2-adrenoceptors are located on the plasma membrane of smooth muscle cells in canine internal carotid arteries and that the norepinephrine-induced contractions at low and high concentrations are mainly mediated by activation of α2- and α1-adrenoceptors, respectively.