Identification of 5HT2-receptors on longitudinal muscle of the guinea pig ileum.

In binding experiments with the radioligands [3H]Ketanserin (HKet) and [125I]LSD (ILSD) 21 compounds were investigated using rat brain cortex membranes. The pKD-values of the compounds were virtually independent of the radioligand used and their rank order was consistent with classification of the binding sites as being of the 5-HT2-type. In contrast, in the longitudinal muscle of the guinea pig ileum in the presence of 0.3 microM cinanserin, ILSD labelled sites which were quite different to those in the cortex. In a functional test antagonism of the 5HT induced contraction of the guinea-pig ileum was measured in the presence of 1 microM atropine. The pharmacological inhibition constants (IC50-values) of 8 compounds correlated well with the dissociation constants for HKet binding in the cortex and did not correlate with the data from ILSD binding in the guinea pig ileum. It is concluded that the ileum contains postjunctional 5HT2-receptors which mediate contraction. The nature of the ILSD binding sites in the ileum remains to be elucidated.