The I1 subtype of imidazoline receptors (I1R) is a plasma membrane protein that is involved in diverse physiological functions. Available radioligands used so far to characterize the I1R were able to bind with similar affinities to 2-adrenergic receptors ( 2-ARs) and to I1R. This feature was a major drawback for an adequate characterization of this receptor subtype. New imidazoline analogs were...

Catheter-Based Renal Nerve Ablation and Centrally Generated Sympathetic Activity in Difficult-to-Control Hypertensive Patients To the Editor: With great interest we have read the article by Brinkmann et al, published recently in Hypertension. The authors demonstrated that renal denervation does not result in a decrease in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in 11 patients (10 men and 1 wom...

On the basis of data obtained in rabbits, the imidazoline receptor ligand rilmenidine has been suggested to decrease blood pressure in humans by activating central a2A-adrenoceptors. A prerequisite for this hypothesis was the unproved assumption that rabbit and human a2A-adrenoceptors are equally activated by rilmenidine. Because a2A-adrenoceptors in the brain and on cardiovascular sympathetic ...

The great British-American scientist-philosopher Alfred North Whitehead divided progress into three stages, the second of which was termed precision, in which the “right ways and wrong ways” of an original idea are elucidated.1 During this period, reinterpretation of the basic idea occurs and is essential to progress. Whitehead’s message is that important ideas are dynamic instruments that are ...

In patients with renal failure, myocardial infarction (MI) is more frequent and the rate of death from acute MI is very high. It has been argued that ischemia tolerance of the heart is reduced in uremia, but direct evidence for this hypothesis has not been provided. It was the purpose of this study (1) to ligate the left coronary artery and to measure the nonperfused area (risk area: total infa...