The novel alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist [3H]mivazerol binds to non-adrenergic binding sites in human striatum membranes that are distinct from imidazoline receptors.

The alpha 2 adrenergic agonist [3H]mivazerol labelled two populations of binding sites in membranes from the human striatum. Forty per cent of the sites labelled by 3 nM [3H]mivazerol corresponded to alpha 2 adrenergic receptors as they displayed a high affinity for (-)-adrenaline and for rauwolscine. The remaining binding was displaced by mivazerol with a pIC50 of 6.5 +/- 0.1. These sites displayed higher affinity for dexmedetomidine (pIC50 = 7.1 +/- 0.1), but much lower affinity for clonidine (pIC50 < 5.0) and for idazoxan (pIC50 = 5.1 +/- 0.1). Mivazerol also showed low affinity for the [3H]clonidine-labelled I1 imidazoline receptors and for the [3H]idazoxan-labelled I2 receptors (pIC50 = 5.1 and 3.9, respectively). These results suggest that the non-adrenergic [3H]mivazerol binding sites are distinct from the imidazoline receptors in the human striatum.