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. 1979 Feb;65(2):175–182. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1979.tb07816.x

The extraneuronal accumulation of isoprenaline in trachea and atria of guinea-pig and cat

A fluorescence histochemical study

Elizabeth N Anning, Lesley J Bryan, Stella R O'Donnell
PMCID: PMC1668618  PMID: 367478

Abstract

1 The Falck-Hillarp histochemical technique was used to locate extraneuronal sites of accumulation of isoprenaline in trachea and atria from guinea-pig and cat. With a tissue exposure time to formaldehyde gas of 3 h, isoprenaline was located as green fluorescence.

2 Quantitative microphotometry was used to measure fluorescence intensity within cells in the trachealis smooth muscle and the atrial myocardium of both species.

3 After incubation of tissues in 50 μM isoprenaline, specific fluorescence was seen in trachealis smooth muscle of both species and in the atrial myocardium of cat but not guinea-pig. In both species, fluorescence was also seen in the chondroblasts of the tracheal cartilage and in blood vessels in all tissues.

4 In trachealis smooth muscle of both species and in cat atrial myocardium, fluorescence brightness, resulting from incubation of tissues in 50 μM isoprenaline was significantly increased by 200 μM β-thujaplicin, an inhibitor of catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT). In the presence of β-thujaplicin, fluorescence was not visible in guinea-pig atrial myocardium with 50 μM isoprenaline, although fluorescence brightness measured in myocardial cells was now greater than that in corresponding controls.

5 The fluorescence intensity seen in cat and guinea-pig trachealis smooth muscle cells and in cat atrial myocardial cells after incubation in 50 μM isoprenaline was decreased significantly in the presence of phenoxybenzamine (100 μM). In guinea-pig atria, phenoxybenzamine had no effect on myocardial fluorescence. Fluorescence intensity was also decreased if the incubation with isoprenaline was carried out at 0°C or if the post-incubation washing temperature was 37°C instead of 0 to 2°C.

6 The results demonstrate that the fluorescence histochemical technique can be used to locate isoprenaline in tissues. They also indicate that guinea-pig and cat trachealis smooth muscle cells and cat atrial myocardial cells can accumulate isoprenaline (a) by a mechanism sensitive to phenoxybenzamine and (b) into sites in which COMT plays a functional role in inactivating isoprenaline at the concentration used in these histochemical experiments (50 μM). In contrast, the guinea-pig atrial myocardial cells may have a minimal capacity to accumulate isoprenaline by a phenoxybenzamine-sensitive uptake mechanism.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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