A new approach to the measurement and classification of forms of supersensitivity of autonomic effector responses.

1 It is proposed that sensitizations of autonomic effectors to agonists by drugs or procedures be considered in two main categories: those involving changes in the effective concentration of agonist at receptors (type I) and those involving changes in the responding tissue beyond the initial combination of agonist and receptors (type II). Type I sensitizations are appropriately described by determining the dose-ratio (horizontal shift of the dose-response curve) and type II sensitizations by assessing the change in the magnitude of the response.2 The inadequacy of the dose-ratio in assessing sensitizations related to an altered physiology of the responding tissue is illustrated by means of hypothetical examples with particular reference to the slopes of dose-response curves and altered maximal responses.3 An evaluation of the enhancement of responses of rabbit aortic strips to agonists by reserpine indicates that it is a type II sensitization. The shifts of dose-response curves to noradrenaline, isoprenaline, normetanephrine and 5-hydroxytryptamine after reserpine-treatment, were described both by the dose-ratio and by the increment in the magnitude of the response at various contraction amplitudes. The dose-ratio varied unpredictably for each agonist depending on the response level selected for comparison and also varied between agonists. However, the mm increment in response magnitude after reserpine approximated a constant value. Responses to potassium which by horizontal procedures were assessed among the least increased, were found to be enhanced the most when considered as a type II sensitization.4 It is concluded that both type I and type II procedures should be applied when dealing with an unidentified sensitization and that the data be critically assessed. The appropriate use of these procedures can aid in identifying and clarifying sensitizations, as well as in elucidating the sequence of steps between receptor activation and response in an effector.