Norepinephrine-induced alteration in the coupling of α1-adrenergic receptor occupancy to calcium efflux in rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells

To determine whether α-adrenergic desensitization of vascular smooth muscle is due to an alteration in α1-adrenergic receptor coupling, the authors determined the relationship between receptor occupancy and maximal receptor-coupled Ca2+ efflux in cultured rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells (i) under basal conditions as defined by receptor inactivation with phenoxybenzamine and (ii) after 48 hr of exposure to several concentrations of 1-norepinephrine (NE). Neither phenoxybenzamine nor NE exposure caused a change in binding affinity for [3H]prazosin or NE. Maximal [3H]prazosin binding capacity and maximal NE-stimulated 45Ca2+ efflux decreased progressively with exposure of incubated cells to increasing concentrations of phenoxybenzamine or NE. An approximately 80% decrease in maximal [3H]prazosin binding capacity caused by either phenoxybenzamine or NE resulted in complete loss of NE-stimulated 45Ca2+ efflux, indicating that under these conditions approximately 20% of α1-adrenergic receptors are not coupled to the Ca2+ efflux. Under basal conditions, the relationship between maximal [3H]prazosin binding capacity and maximal NE-stimulated 45Ca2+ efflux was markedly nonlinear, so that a near maximal response could be elicited by occupancy of only approximately 40% of the receptors. Thus, an alteration in occupancy-response coupling at a step proximal to Ca2+ mobilization and/or influx, rather than a reduction in receptor number, is of primary importance in the process of agonist-induced α-adrenergic receptor desensitization of vascular smooth muscle cells