Y. Madrero et al., A POSSIBLE STRUCTURAL DETERMINANT OF SELECTIVITY OF BOLDINE AND DERIVATIVES FOR THE ALPHA(1A)-ADRENOCEPTOR SUBTYPE, British Journal of Pharmacology, 119(8), 1996, pp. 1563-1568
1 The selectivity of action of boldine and the related aporphine alkal
oids, predicentrine (9-O-methylboldine) and glaucine (2,9-O-dimethylbo
ldine) on alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes was studied by examining [H-3
]-prazosin competition binding in rat cerebral cortex. WB 4101 and ben
oxathian were used as selective alpha(1A)-adrenoceptor antagonists. 2
In the competition experiments [H-3]-prazosin (0.2 nM) binding was inh
ibited by WE 4101 and benoxathian. The inhibition curves displayed sha
llow slopes which could be subdivided into high and low affinity compo
nents (pK(i)=9.92 and 8.29 for WE 4101, 9.35 and 7.94 for benoxathian)
. The two antagonists recognized approximately 37% of the sites with h
igh affinity from among the total [H-3]-prazosin specific binding site
s. 3 Boldine, predicentrine and glaucine also competed for [3H]-prazos
in (0.2 nM) binding with shallow and biphasic curves recognizing 30-40
% of the sites with high affinity. Drug affinities (pK(i)) at the high
and low affinity sites were, 8.31 and 6.50, respectively, for boldine
, 8.13 and 6.39 for predicentrine, and 7.12 and 5.92 for glaucine. The
relative order of selectivity for alpha(1A)-adrenoceptors was boldine
(70 fold alpha(1A)-selective)=predicentrine (60 fold, alpha(1A)-selec
tive)> glaucine (15 fold, alpha(1A)-selective). 4 Pretreatment of rat
cerebral cortex membranes with chloroethylclonidine (CEC, 10 mu M) for
30 min at 37 degrees C followed by thorough washing out reduced speci
fic [H-3]-prazosin binding by approximately 70%. The CEC-insensitive [
H-3]-prazosin binding was inhibited by boldine monophasically (Hill sl
ope=0.93) with a single pK(i) value (7.76). 5 These results suggest th
at whereas the aporphine structure shared by these alkaloids is respon
sible for their selectivity of action for the alpha(1A)-adrenoceptor s
ubtype in rat cerebral cortex, defined functional groups, namely the 2
-hydroxy function, induces a significant increase in alpha(1A)-subtype
selectivity and affinity.