[Is the alpha adrenergic receptor density increased in intact thrombocytes in non-isometric trained athletes?]

Alpha-adrenoreceptors were determined as an equivalent to 3H-dihydroergocryptine (DHE) specifically bound on intact thrombocytes in five untrained volunteers (I), eight non-staticly trained sportsmen (II), and eight intensively staticly trained athletes (III). Bmax was 933 +/- 363 (I), 982 +/- 373 (II), and 1796 +/- 539 fmol DHE X 10(-9) thrombocytes (III). KD was 1.28 +/- 0.49 (I), 2.94 +/- 1.12 (II), and 3.58 +/- 1.07 nmol X l-1 (III). The number of binding sites per cell amounted to 561 +/- 202 (I), 589 +/- 224 (II), and 1078 +/- 323 (III). The thrombocytes of the staticly trained athletes showed a significantly higher number of binding sites and a slightly higher affinity (KD) than the other groups (p less than 0.01). However, a wide range of overlapping has to be considered. The biologic significance of these results and their transferability to other organs are open at present. It is the question whether an altered adrenoreceptor density may be one factor of a higher prevalence of hypertension in staticly trained athletes on which our research group has reported recently.