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Biomedical subjects

E Frittoli

Publications and source records attributed to E Frittoli.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Comparative studies on the anorectic activity of d-fenfluramine in mice, rats, and guinea pigs.

The present study compares the anorectic activity of d-fenfluramine and its metabolite d-norfenfluramine in three animal species. d-Fenfluramine and d-norfenfluramine show anorectic activity at increasing doses (ED50) in rats, guinea pigs, and mice, d-norfenfluramine being more active than d-fenfluramine in all three species. Equiactive anorectic activities are reached with different brain levels of d-fenfluramine and d-norfenfluramine, guinea pigs being the most sensitive species, followed by rats then mice. The metabolite most probably plays a major role in the anorectic effect of d-fenfluramine in guinea pigs, contributes to the anorectic activity in rats, but adds little to the action of the parent drug in mice. The different sensitivity to d-fenfluramine and d-norfenfluramine in these three species does not appear to be explained by a number of biochemical parameters, including serotonin uptake or release, receptor subtypes, or 3H-d-fenfluramine binding and uptake.

Animals↗

Antagonist properties of 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)piperazine at presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the rat brain.

The effect of 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)piperazine (PmP), the main metabolite of buspirone, was tested on K(+)-evoked [3H]noradrenaline and [3H]serotonin release from superfused synaptosomes obtained from rat cerebral cortex. PmP had no effects per se, but antagonized the effect of noradrenaline, producing a parallel shift to the right of the noradrenaline inhibition curves. From these data pA2 (apparent affinity) values of 6.8 and 7.3 were calculated for PmP on presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors located on noradrenergic and serotonergic nerve terminals, respectively.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗

The modulation of [3H]noradrenaline and [3H]serotonin release from rat brain synaptosomes is not mediated by the alpha 2B-adrenoceptor subtype.

The present study aimed at relating the presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors, known to modulate noradrenaline and serotonin release, with the recently described alpha 2A- and alpha 2B-adrenoceptor subtypes. The effects of the agonist oxymetazoline (selective for alpha 2A subtype) and of three adrenoceptor antagonists (idazoxan, 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)piperazine (PmP) and prazosin, the last one known to be alpha 2B selective) were evaluated on [3H]noradrenaline and [3H]serotonin release in superfused synaptosomes from rat brain cortex. These drugs were also tested in [3H]yohimbine binding to human platelet membranes (containing only alpha 2A receptors) and to neonatal rat lung membranes (containing only alpha 2B receptors). The affinity pattern of these compounds at alpha 2A-adrenoceptors in binding studies was oxymetazoline greater than = idazoxan greater than PmP greater than prazosin; at alpha 2B-adrenoceptors it was idazoxan greater than = prazosin greater than PmP = oxymetazoline. Oxymetazoline inhibited with high and similar potencies the K(+)-evoked [3H]noradrenaline and [3H]serotonin release, IC50 18 and 7 nM, respectively; in the same conditions, the IC50 values of noradrenaline were 42 and 168 nM, respectively. The antagonist affinity pattern (antagonism against noradrenaline) was idazoxan greater than PmP greater than prazosin, either on [3H]serotonin release. These results indicate that presynaptic alpha 2 auto- or heteroreceptors do not belong to the alpha 2B subtype and suggest that the modulation of noradrenaline and serotonin release may be mediated by the alpha 2A-adrenoceptor subtype.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗