Selective inhibition of adenylyl cyclase by octopamine via a human cloned alpha 2A-adrenoceptor.

1. In this study we have compared the abilities of the enantiomers of the structural isomers of the phenolamines, octopamine and synephrine, and the catecholamines, noradrenaline and adrenaline, to couple selectively a human cloned alpha 2A-adrenoceptor, stably expressed in a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line, to G-protein linked second messenger pathways mediating an increase and a decrease in cyclic AMP production. 2. The catecholamines couple the alpha 2A-adrenoceptor to both an increase and a decrease in the rate of cyclic AMP production. In the absence of pertussis toxin pretreatment both catecholamines tested showed a dose-dependent decrease with a maximum at 100 nM. After pertussis toxin pretreatment they both produced a dose-dependent increase in cyclic AMP production with a maximum at 10 microM. 3. The phenolamines, octopamine and synephrine were only able to couple the alpha 2A-adrenoceptor to a dose-dependent decrease in cyclic AMP production at concentrations up to 1 mM, with the synephrine isomers being more potent than the corresponding octopamine isomers. The meta-isomers of both phenolamines were more potent than the corresponding para-isomers and the (-)-enantiomers were more potent than the (+)-enantiomers. Thus, (-)-meta-synephrine [(-)-phenylephrine] was the most effective isomer tested with an observable decrease occurring between 100 nM and 1 microM. 4. The effects of octopamine and the catecholamines on the decrease in cyclic AMP production were additive at submaximal concentrations, whilst octopamine reduced the stimulant effect of submaximal concentrations of noradrenaline on cyclic AMP production after pertussis toxin pretreatment. 5. The time courses of the inhibitory effects of both meta-octopamine and noradrenaline were parallel and peaked after a 1 min exposure to the agonist. In contrast, the stimulant effects of noradrenaline after pertussis toxin pretreatment were of a much slower time course with a maximum effect occurring after a 5 min incubation period. 6. Since octopamine and synephrine occur naturally in, and are co-released with catecholamines from, mammalian tissues, the results of the present study suggest that the human cloned alpha 2A-adrenoceptor can be coupled selectively by different endogenous agonists to G-protein pathways mediating the regulation of adenylyl cyclase activity.