RECEPTORS FOR CATECHOL AMINES IN THE SUBMAXILLARY GLANDS OF RATS

Abstract

The conception of a-and P-receptors for catechol amines was originally based on experiments with heart and smooth muscle (Ahlquist, 1948). The present investigation deals with such receptors in glandular tissue. The starting-point was the observation that guanethidine causes a flow of saliva from the submaxillary gland which is completely abolished by dihydroergotamine in cats but only reduced by this drug in rats; further experiments disclosed that this applies to secretion evoked by noradrenaline also (Emmelin & Str6mblad, 1963). It may therefore be assumed that the rat salivary gland is supplied not only with a-, but also with P-receptors. This conclusion is supported by the fact that saliva flows from the mouth of rats after intraperitoneal injection of isoprenaline (Selye,