skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Pharmacological analysis of calcium antagonist receptors

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:7140891

This work focuses on two aspects of the action of calcium antagonist drugs, namely, the interaction of drugs with receptors for verapamil-like calcium antagonists, and the interactions of drugs with voltage-sensitive calcium fluxes in rat brain synaptosomes. From binding studies I have found that the ligand of choice for labeling the verapamil receptor is (-)(/sup 3/H)desmethoxy-verapamil. This drug labels potently, reversibly and stereoselectively two receptors in membranes prepared from rat brain and rabbit skeletal muscle tissues. In equilibrium studies dihydropyridine calcium antagonists interact in a non-competitive fashion, while many non-DHPs are apparently competitive. In-depth kinetic studies in skeletal muscle membranes indicate that the two receptors are linked in a negative heterotropic fashion, and that low-affinity binding of (-) (/sup 3/H)desmethoxy-verapamil may be to the diltiazem receptor. However, these studies were not able to distinguish between the hypothesis that diltiazem binds to spatially separate, allosterically coupled receptors, and the hypothesis that diltiazem binds to a subsite of the verapamil receptor.

Research Organization:
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (USA)
OSTI ID:
7140891
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English