Pyridostigmine bromide (PB) is a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor used routinely in the treatment of myasthenia gravis and recently by the US Army as a prophylactic agent against potential nerve gas attack in the Persian Gulf War. Pyridostigmine has been implicated as one of several possible causative factors associated with Persian Gulf illnesses. To investigate toxic interactions between P...

Ultra-low doses of non-selective α2-adrenoceptor antagonists augment acute spinal morphine antinociception and block morphine tolerance; however, the receptor involved in mediating these effects is currently unknown. Here, we used tail flick and paw pressure tests on the rat to investigate the acute analgesic and tolerance-inducing effects of spinal morphine and norepinephrine alone or in combi...

Repeated administration of nicotine causes a tremor only in the tail (tail-tremor) of rats. The tremor is accompanied with locomotor hyperactivity without rigidity and immobility of the whole body, suggesting the involvement of the mechanism associated with the movement. The tail-tremor induced by nicotine was suppressed by nicotinic acethylcholine (nACh) receptor antagonists, but not by muscar...

Activation of the sympathetic nervous system inhibits insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. However, the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Therefore, we studied the effects of catecholamines on insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and insulin-stimulated translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. We found that epinephrine (1 microM) nearly halved insulin-stimu...

Catecholamines, either endogenous hormones or a variety of exogenous synthetic pharmacological agents, bind to adrenoceptors to mediate their ultimate clinical effects [21]. Since adrenoceptors mediate many cardiovascular responses, pharmacological stimulation and inhibition of adrenoceptors may be useful to the anaesthetist. Ahlquist described originally two adrenoceptor subtypes (alpha and be...

b3-Adrenoceptor agonists have recently been introduced for the treatment of overactive urinary bladder syndrome. Their target, the b3-adrenoceptor, was discovered much later than b1and b2-adrenoceptors and exhibits unique properties which make extrapolation of findings from the other two subtypes difficult and the b3-adrenoceptor a less-understood subtype. This article discusses three aspects o...

INTRODUCTION IFNA1 (interferon alpha) is a key cytokine regulating the activity of numerous immune cells. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) as natural interferon-producing cells play critical roles as sensors of pathogens and link innate to adaptive immunity. CpG motifs within DNA sequences activating toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) are the main stimuli eliciting IFNA1 secretion from pDCs. Adrene...

In an attempt to further clarify the mechanism of the maintenance of the antihypertensive effect of beta-adrenoceptor antagonists, the effects of four antagonists with different ancillary properties (acebutolol, atenolol, pindolol, and propranolol) on systemic and renal hemodynamics, body fluid volumes, hormones, and lymphocyte beta-adrenoceptor density were studied in four groups of 10 hyperte...

transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (tens) is an analgesia inducing method with increasing applications in clinical procedures. in this study we tried to evaluate the role of the adrenergic system and its different adrenoceptor subtypes in tens-induced analgesia. two types of low and high frequency electrical stimuli were used in rats through needle electrodes, inserted at the base of t...

We determined the binding affinity of tamsulosin, a selective α(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist, for human α(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes in comparison with those of other α(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists including silodosin, prazosin, 5-methylurapidil, terazosin, alfuzosin, nafopidil, urapidil and BMY7378. The association and dissociation kinetics of [(3)H]tamsulosin for recombinant human α(1)-adrenocepto...