ANTAGONISM BETWEEN (-)-N6-PHENYLISOPROPYL-ADENOSINE AND THE CALCIUM-CHANNEL FACILITATOR BAY-K-8644, ON GUINEA-PIG ISOLATED ATRIA

1. Antagonism between (-)-N6-phenylisopropyladenosine (PIA) and the dihydropyridine calcium channel facilitator Bay K 8644 was investigated in guinea-pig spontaneously beating or electrically driven isolated atria, taken from normal and from reserpine-treated animals. 2. PIA (3-100 nM) produced a dose-dependent decrease in contractile tension and frequency in spontaneously beating atria being more effective in reserpinized preparations. 3. Bay K 8644 (5-200 nM) produced an increase in contractile tension in both normal and reserpinized atria. In electrically driven left atria the positive inotropic effect of Bay K 8644 was similar to that in spontaneously beating preparations. The positive chronotropic effect of Bay K 8644 was slight and invariable. 4. PIA produced a rightward parallel shift of the concentration-response curves for the positive inotropic effects of Bay K 8644 in all experimental conditions. In spontaneously beating atria from normal guinea-pigs, the Schild regression plot was linear and its slope near to unity; pA2 of PIA 8.63 .+-. 0.05 (IC50 2.35 .+-. 0.25 nM). In electrically driven atria the antagonism by PIA of the effects of Bay K 8644 was apparently competitive, and the IC50 of PIA was 18.6 .+-. 0.4 nM. PIA antagonized the positive chronotropic effect of Bay 8644 in spontaneously beating preparations, both from normal and from reserpine-treated animals. 5. Carbachol did not modify the positive inotropic effects of Bay K 8644. 6. These data indicate that PIA may interact with Bay K 8644 at the level of the slow calcium channels, and may decrease the transmembrane calcium flux into the cell.