Characterization of the inducible serotonin-sensitive dihydroalprenolol binding sites with low affinity for...

The previous findings that the inducible [3H]-dihydroalprenolol (DHA) binding sites with low affinity for isoproterenol (RL) could be regulated by serotonin (5-HT) in vitro and by 5-hydroxytryptophan and the 5-HT uptake inhibitor fluoxetine in vivo, prompted the present pharmacologic characterization of these receptor sites, using nonlinear regression analysis of competition binding curves. If isoproterenol was used as the displacing agent, lesioning with 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine selectively increased [3H]-DHA binding sites with low micromolar affinity. By contrast, if 5-HT was used as the displacing agent, the receptor population with high agonist affinity showed a fourfold increase whereas the density of [3H]-DHA sites with low micromolar affinity for 5-HT was not altered. Neither the 5-HT1A agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, nor mianserin, a 5-HT2 and 5-HT1C antagonist, altered the induced RL receptor population, whereas the selective 5-HT1B agonist CGS-12066B reduced the increase in the RL receptor population with a potency equal to that of 5-HT. These results strengthen the notion that the [3H]-DHA sites with low agonist affinity for isoproterenol represent 5-HT1B receptors induced following a reduction of serotonergic neuronal function.