Imidazoline receptors ligands

Tizanidine may discriminate between imidazoline-receptors and alpha 2-adrenoceptors.

The selectivity of tizanidine to the imidazoline-receptor and alpha 2-adrenoceptor recognized by 3H-p-aminoclonidine was examined in rat kidney membranes and was compared with those of other imidazoline compounds. Tizanidine bound to the imidazoline-receptors with approximately 20 times higher affinity than the alpha 2-adrenoceptors. The order of relative selectivity to imidazoline receptor was...

Imidazoline receptors in relaxation of acetylcholine-constricted isolated rat jejunum.

Since 20 years the concept of specific imidazoline receptors has remained controversial. The problem with imidazoline receptors is mostly due to their functional similarity to alpha-adrenoceptors. In this work, a pharmacodynamic model of isolated rat jejunum longitudinal muscle strips constricted with acetylcholine (Ach) was applied to separate functional properties of the two types of receptor...

Galanin Receptors and Ligands

The neuropeptide galanin was first discovered 30 years ago. Today, the galanin family consists of galanin, galanin-like peptide (GALP), galanin-message associated peptide (GMAP), and alarin and this family has been shown to be involved in a wide variety of biological and pathological functions. The effect is mediated through three GPCR subtypes, GalR1-3. The limited number of specific ligands t...

Guiding Ligands to Nuclear Receptors

Retinoic acid-the active metabolite of vitamin A-influences biological processes by activating the retinoic acid receptor (RAR). In this issue, Schug et al. (2007) demonstrate that retinoic acid also activates the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta/delta (PPARbeta/delta). Remarkably, retinoic acid signaling through RAR or PPARbeta/delta-which depends on cytoplasmic retinoic acid tr...

Adenosine receptors and its ligands