title: Central alpha 2-adrenoceptors and blood pressure regulation in the rat.
abstract: The role of alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the central regulation of blood pressure has been questioned, since drugs such as clonidine stimulate both alpha 2-adrenoceptors and imidazoline-preferring receptors. The present work was undertaken to study the influence of alpha 2D-adrenoceptors, encoded by the RG20 gene, on blood pressure in the rat. An antisense phosphodiester oligodeoxynucleotide, directed at nucleotides 4-21 of the RG20 gene, was injected in the right lateral cerebral ventricle, causing an increase in systolic blood pressure, both at 1 and 2 days after the injection, when compared to groups of control rats (injected with the sense oligodeoxynucleotide or a missense oligodeoxynucleotide or distilled water). Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides directed either at nucleotides 65-82 of the RG10 gene (encoding for alpha 2C-adrenoceptors) or at nucleotides 26-43 of the RNG gene (encoding for alpha 2B-adrenoceptors), failed to produce any change in blood pressure after being injected. We conclude that the alpha 2-adrenoceptor encoded by the RG20 gene may play a role in blood pressure regulation in the rat.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Farmacologia e Terapêutica, Faculdade de Medicina, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Nunes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018341:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D018341:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2