Different affinities of alpha 2-agonists for imidazoline and alpha 2-adrenergic receptors

It has recently been shown that imidazoline alpha 2-adrenergic agonists, such as clonidine and UK 14,304, selectively bind to both alpha 2- and imidazoline receptors in basolateral membranes from rabbit renal proximal tubule. In order to define the relative affinity of three antihypertensive alpha 2-agonists for the two classes of receptors, we performed competition studies of imidazoline alpha 2-antagonist 3H-RX 781094 and nonimidazoline antagonist 3H-rauwolscine binding to basolateral membranes from rabbit proximal tubule. The order of potency for inhibition of radioligand binding to basolateral membranes was rilmenidine greater than clonidine greater than guanfacine and clonidine greater than guanfacine greater than rilmenidine for 3H-RX 781094 and 3H-rauwolscine binding, respectively. These data show that not only clonidine, but also rilmenidine and guanfacine, drugs usually used as specific alpha 2-agonists, bind to both alpha 2- and imidazoline receptors. The higher affinity of these molecules for one or the other class of receptors could explain their different capacity to induce hypotension and side effects.