CATECHOLAMINE-SENSITIVE ADENYLATE CYCLASES IN NERVOUS TISSUES

The coupling of catecholamine receptors to adenylate cyclase provides a useful way in which neurochemical techniques can be used to study adrenergic mechanisms in CNS. In most instances the precise cellular location of the catecholamine-stimulated adenylate cyclases in different brain regions is unknown; it is not even clear whether some of these systems are glial rather than neuronal in location. The pharmacological nature of the receptors involved is not always clear, nor have the possibilities of indirect cyclic[c]AMP responses to catecholamines been ruled out. Little is known of the physiological and behavioral significance of catecholamine-mediated changes in cAMP and the nature of the long-term adaptive responses that can occur in these systems.