[3H]-8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine binding to A1 adenosine receptors of intact rat ventricular myocytes.

The purpose of the present study was the identification of A1 adenosine receptors in intact rat ventricular myocytes, which are thought to mediate the negative inotropic effects of adenosine. The adenosine receptor antagonist [3H]-8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine was used as radioligand. Binding of the radioligand to intact myocytes was rapid, reversible, and saturable with a binding capacity of 40,000 binding sites per cell. The dissociation constant of the radioligand was 0.48 nM. The adenosine receptor antagonists 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine, "xanthine amine congener," and theophylline were competitive inhibitors with affinities in agreement with results obtained for A1 receptors in other tissues. Competition experiments using the adenosine receptor agonists R-N(6)-phenylisopropyladenosine, 5'-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine, and S-N(6)-phenylisopropyladenosine gave monophasic displacement curves with Ki values of 50 nM, 440 nM, and 4,300 nM, which agreed well with the GTP-inducible low affinity state in cardiac membranes. The low affinity for agonists was not due to agonist-induced desensitization, and correlated well with the corresponding IC50 values for the inhibition of cyclic AMP accumulation by isoprenaline. It is suggested that only a low affinity state of A1 receptors can be detected in intact rat myocytes due to the presence of high concentrations of guanine nucleotides in intact cells.