Intracoronary beta2 receptor activation induces dynamic local t-PA release in the pig.

To investigate beta2 -adrenergic agonist-mediated effects on coronary fluxes of local fibrinolytic factors, healthy anaesthetised and instrumented pigs (n=10) were studied during infusion of isoprenaline (IPR) into the left main coronary artery. Coronary net fluxes of total t-PA antigen, active t-PA and total PAI-1 antigen were determined at baseline and at 3, 5, 7 and 10 minutes of IPR infusion. During IPR, net release of total t-PA increased in a biphasic pattern with transiently high levels at 3 (+440 %) and 7 minutes (+620%) and returned towards baseline at 10 minutes. Net coronary release of active t-PA increased with maximum levels at 3 minutes (+50%). Baseline coronary net flux of total PAI -1 showed a decrease which was most pronounced at 10 minutes. To conclude, a fast beta2 agonist-mediated local release of t-PA into the coronary vasculature was demonstrated. For total t-PA, this response was characterised by a biphasic release profile.