Interaction of the antihypertensive drug urapidil with cardiac beta-adrenoceptors in vitro.

A possible interaction of the antihypertensive drug, urapidil with beta-adrenoceptors was investigated in a guinea-pig ventricular membrane preparation. Urapidil at concentrations above 1 microM antagonized the isoproterenol-induced stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity. Urapidil 10 microM shifted the concentration-response curve for isoproterenol in a parallel manner to the right by a factor of 16. Urapidil competed with specific beta-adrenoceptor binding of [125I]iodocyanopindolol with an IC50 of 12 microM. Since the affinity of urapidil to beta-adrenoceptors appeared rather low, any beta-adrenoceptor blocking property may be of relevance in vivo at high dosages only.