Densitometric analysis of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors in guinea-pig atrioventricular conducting system

Quantitative autoradiography was used to determine the densities of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors in the atrioventricular conducting system in guinea-pig. (-)[125I]Cyanopindolol (CYP) was used to label beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors in the absence or presence of the beta 1-adrenoceptor selective antagonist CGP 20712A (100 nM) or the beta 2-adrenoceptor selective antagonist ICI 118,551 (70 nM) or the non-selective beta-adrenoceptor antagonist (-)-propranolol (1 microM). Protein in discrete anatomical regions was determined using a densitometric method based on the dye Coomassie brilliant blue G. In the atrioventricular conducting system the proportion of beta 2-adrenoceptors determined by inhibition of total (-)[125I]-CYP binding by CGP 20712A (100 nM) ranged from 32.5% (atrioventricular node) to 48.7% (left bundle branch). In the atrioventricular node (16.8 fmol/mg protein), bundle of His (12.1 fmol/mg protein), right (17.4 fmol/mg protein) and left (21.1 fmol/mg protein) bundle branches and Purkinje cells there was a higher density of beta 2-adrenoceptors than in the interventricular septum (8.4 fmol/mg protein) and right atria (8.3 fmol/mg protein). The medial smooth muscle of the aorta, aortic valve, adventitia of the aorta, nerve tissue, tricuspid and mitral valves contained only beta 2-adrenoceptors. It is speculated that the use of beta-adrenoceptor antagonists to control cardiac arrhythmias involving a defect in conduction in the atrioventricular node should take into consideration both beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors.