Adenosine A2a receptors are found in coronary vascular tissue although, their presence in myocardium is subject to investigation. Although there have been numerous studies on adenosine A2a receptor agonist effects on contractility and cAMP levels in ventricular myocytes, these have yielded conflicting results. Negative pharmacological studies have even led to the conclusion that A2a receptors a...

Topical adenosine A2A receptor agonists promote wound healing by, among other effects, increasing microvessel formation. Results of representational display analysis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells suggested that A2A receptor occupancy modulates expression of the antiangiogenic matrix protein thrombospondin 1 (TSP1). We therefore determined whether A2A receptor occupation stimulates a...

INTRODUCTION Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease activity is associated with blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, which is mediated by inflammatory cytokines released by CD4+ lymphocytes. To assess the effects of adenosine A2A receptors on BBB permeability in vitro and in vivo. METHODS A2A receptor expression was detected by immunostaining in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) C57BL...

Addiction to psychostimulants is a major public health problem with no available treatment. Adenosine A2A receptors (A2A R) co-localize with metabotropic glutamate 5 receptors (mGlu5 R) in the striatum and functionally interact to modulate behaviours induced by addictive substances, such as alcohol. Using genetic and pharmacological antagonism of A2A R in mice, we investigated whether A2A R-mGl...

Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive deficits, and positive and negative symptoms. All antipsychotics currently used in clinical practice are dopamine D2 receptor antagonists. The idea that adenosine A2A receptor agonists might be of interest for the treatment of schizophrenia derived from studies showing the existence of antagonistic intramembrane int...

INTRODUCTION The reduction of the inflammatory status represents one of the most important targets in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A central role of A2A and A3 adenosine receptors (ARs) in mechanisms of inflammation has been reported in different pathologies. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the A2A and A3ARs and their involvement in RA progression measured by Disease Activity Sco...

Previous studies using cultured colon adenocarcinoma cells demonstrated that a mixture of the diastereoiosomers of the biologically active (6S) and inactive (6R) forms of (6RS) leucovorin or 5-formyl-H4PteGlu (LV) and recombinant human a2a-interferon (rLFN-a2a) in combination significantly increased the cytotoxicity of 5-fluorouradil (FUra) (by 10-14fold) whereas FUra combined with single modul...

Acute activation of Galpha(i/o)-coupled D2 dopamine receptors inhibits A2A adenosine receptor stimulation of adenylate cyclase. This antagonistic interaction between D2 dopamine and A2A adenosine receptors has been well documented; however, the effects of persistent activation of D2 dopamine receptors on subsequent A2A adenosine receptor signaling have not been explored. The present study inves...

a2-Adrenergic receptors (a2-ARs) respond to norepinephrine and epinephrine to mediate diverse physiological effects. Using in situ hybridization, the expression pattern of the mRNA encoding the three a2-AR subtypes (a2A, a2B, and a2C) was examined in the mouse embryo. The mRNA encoding the three subtypes was first detected at stage 9.5 days postcoitus (d.p.c.) for the a2A-AR (coincident with no...