The Journal of surgical research
-
The myocardial response to catecholamines is significantly diminished in many types of shock or heart failure. The guinea pig heart is an ideal model for the study of shock, as it is relatively inexpensive, and the cardiovascular system of the guinea pig most closely resembles that of the human. Using this model, we have developed techniques to characterize and quantitate changes in beta-adrenergic receptors (beta AR) in the guinea pig heart after burn injury. ⋯ The membrane preparations used in this study bound both agonists and antagonists with a rank order of potency and stereospecificity characteristic of a beta-adrenergic receptor. Finally, agonist competition curves were performed with isoproterenol in the presence and absence of Gpp(NH)p to determine receptor regulation by the Gs protein. Analysis using computer-assisted techniques suggests that the fraction of high-affinity beta-receptors is significantly reduced after burn injury (41.2 +/- 4.7%) compared to sham-burned controls (54 +/- 2%, P < or = 0.023).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)