Effects of trypan blue on the action of adrenergic agonists in the guinea-pig isolated atrium.

It has been reported that trypan blue, a diazo dye with polyamphipathic structure, can inhibit the coupling of receptors to G-proteins. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of trypan blue on the actions of adrenoceptor agonists in the guinea-pig atrium. Trypan blue (10 and 100 microM) antagonized the positive inotropic effects of isoprenaline and dobutamine by shifting their concentration-response curves to the right. With the selective beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist, salbutamol, there was a reduction of response in the presence of trypan blue. Therefore, we concluded that trypan blue diminish the response to beta-adrenoceptor agonists possibly via decoupling receptors from Gs. Trypan blue and similar agents, due to their unique mode of action, can be used as tools for the investigation of the mechanism of receptor-G protein coupling in the whole tissue preparation.