background: studies have shown that physalis alkekengi reduces implantation and induces antifertility in rat. in iranian traditional medicine it is believed that this plant has abortifacient and antifertility activities. objective: the goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of physalis alkekengi ripe fruit hydroalcoholic extract (pfe) on uterine contractility and its possible mechanism(s...

1. The adaptive changes in the functional parameters of the presynaptic alpha2A-adrenoceptors in rat vas deferens were examined after treatments with the monoamine depleter reserpine or with the direct/indirect cholinomimetic agents pilocarpine and neostigmine. 2. For this purpose, we studied the inhibition induced by the alpha2-adrenoceptor agonist clonidine on the twitch contraction of the va...

I The effects of thyroid state on the properties of adrenoceptors mediating inotropic and chronotropic responses of the rat heart were assessed on the basis of the relative potencies of aand /5adrenoceptor agonists, the effects of aand ,B-adrenoceptor antagonists and the tissue uptake of PH]phenoxybenzamine (PHI-PB). 2 In isolated, electrically driven left atria the ratio of the inotropic poten...

BACKGROUND Agonists of G-protein-coupled receptors (eg, adrenoceptors and angiotensin receptors) signal, at least in part, through matrix metalloproteinases (such as matrix metalloproteinase [MMP]-7) that transactivate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Focusing on adrenoceptors, we examined whether the MMP-dependent signaling pathway depends on reactive oxygen species (ROS). METHOD...

We studied isolated canine arteries and veins to compare the pharmacological properties of their postjunctional alpha-adrenoceptors. Rings of femoral and splenic arteries and of femoral and saphenous veins were mounted for isometric tension recording in organ chambers filled with Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution. The four blood vessels contracted when exposed to methoxamine, norepinephrine, ph...

Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons from control rats or from rats in which the sciatic nerve had been sectioned were studied by whole-cell recording techniques. Noradrenaline (10–100 mM) activated b-adrenoceptors and increased L-type Ca channel current in control DRG cells, but this had little effect on excitability (the number of action potentials generated by a pulse of current at rheobasic s...

AIMS A functional interaction between the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system and noradrenergic neurons in the brain has been suggested. In the present study, we investigated the interrelationship between the central CRF-induced elevation of plasma catecholamines and adrenoceptor activation in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) using urethane-anesthetized rats. MAIN...

We evaluated renal adrenoceptor mediation of the renin secretion and antinatriuretic responses to low frequency (1.0 Hz) electrical stimulation of the renal nerves in the dog using renal a-adrenoceptor blockade with phentolamine {a-i/a-i), prazosin (a,), yohimbine (a2), and rauwolscine (a2), and /3-adrenoceptor blockade with d,/-propranolol OS1//S2) and atenolol (/?,). In all animals studied, r...

The vasodilator activity of a1-adrenoceptor agonists was tested in the rat mesenteric vascular bed (MVB), and the mechanism involved was investigated in cultured endothelial cells isolated from the bovine coronary vascular bed. In preparations preconstricted by U46619, noradrenaline and phenylephrine induced a slight relaxant effect at nanomolar concentrations. This effect was abolished in endo...