Effect of beta-adrenergic receptor blockade with propranolol on the response of plasma catecholamines and renin activity to upright tilting in normal subjects

Blood pressure and catecholamines following exercise during selective beta-blockade in hypertension

This study examines and compares the hemodynamic and sympathoadrenal response to bicycle exercise in hypertensive subjects during two weeks' treatment with a cardio-selective (metoprolol) and nonselective (propranolol) beta-blocker. The increase in plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine concentration following exercise was augmented to a similar degree with each beta-blocker. Pre-exercise blood pressure and heart rate were similar for the two drugs. However immediately after exercise and particularly after resting for 20 min post exercise, diastolic blood pressure was lower during metoprolol treatment. Systolic blood pressure was also lower 20 min post exercise during metoprolol treatment. These observations indicate that cardio-selective beta-blockers offer advantages in blood pressure control during exercise through intact vascular beta 2-adrenoceptors opposing sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction.

Unchanged peripheral sympathetic activity following withdrawal of chronic metoprolol treatment. A study of noradrenaline concentrations and kinetics in plasma

Noradrenaline plasma kinetics were assessed in 17 male patients, who had been treated with metoprolol 100-200 mg daily (n = 8) or placebo for 3 years after an acute myocardial infarction, before and 1 week after gradual withdrawal (during 1 week) of the study treatment. Endogenous noradrenaline concentrations in plasma were measured by high performance liquid chromatography. Noradrenaline spillover rate, plasma clearance and the t1/2 for the rapid removal from plasma were determined by radio-tracer methodology. During treatment the plasma noradrenaline concentrations and noradrenaline plasma kinetic variables were similar in the two groups. Venous plasma noradrenaline concentrations were more closely correlated to the spillover rates of noradrenaline to plasma than to the clearance of noradrenaline from plasma, but the spillover rates were correlated to the clearance rates. Following the withdrawal of metoprolol noradrenaline clearance from plasma increased slightly (by 18 +/- 5%, P less than 0.05), but the plasma concentrations and spillover rates of noradrenaline were unchanged. In the placebo group withdrawal did not result in any significant changes. Our results indicate that a generalised increase in sympathetic nerve activity is not the cause of so-called rebound phenomena following withdrawal of chronic beta-adrenoceptor blockade.

The effect of posture on the sympathoadrenal response to theophylline infusion

We studied the effect of posture on the sympathoadrenal response to intravenous theophylline in six normal subjects. On three separate occasions they received an intravenous infusion of either theophylline (6 mg/kg) while supine, theophylline (6 mg/kg) while standing or saline as placebo while standing. With the subjects standing theophylline caused tremor, a peak heart rate of 99 +/- 6 beats/min, and an elevation of plasma cyclic AMP from 9.3 +/- 0.7 to 15.1 +/- 1.7 nmol/1 (mean +/- s.e. mean). There was a small, but significant, elevation of plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and glucose. The elevation in plasma catecholamines was insufficient to explain either the sympathomimetic effects of theophylline or the rise in plasma cyclic AMP. Theophylline had little or no effect with the subjects supine. The mean peak theophylline concentration following infusion was significantly higher with the subjects upright than when supine (18.3 c.f. 12.4 mg/l, P less than 0.025). However, adequate plasma levels of theophylline were obtained in all subjects when lying or supine. Analysis of individual data suggests that differences in plasma levels of theophylline are unlikely to account for the increased effects seen on standing. The mechanism of action of theophylline cannot be explained by increased secretion of catecholamines alone. Theophylline appears to amplify the increased sympathetic activity associated with standing and this is probably by phosphodiesterase inhibition.

beta-Adrenoceptors in the hypertrophied right ventricle of the dog with pulmonary stenosis

1. Right ventricular hypertrophy was produced in dogs by banding of the pulmonary artery for 28 days (n = 7) and results were compared with those in sham-operated dogs (n = 5). 2. Myocardial noradrenaline and adrenaline levels were depressed in both the hypertrophied right ventricle and the non-hypertrophied left ventricle and plasma levels were increased compared to the control dogs. 3. Myocardial beta-adrenoceptors were assessed in membrane preparations of both ventricles by 3H-dihydroalprenolol binding. No change in binding site concentration (pmol/mg membrane protein) or in binding affinity was found in either the hypertrophied right ventricle or in the left ventricle. 4. Divergent results of studies on beta-adrenoceptors in ventricular hypertrophy are difficult to reconcile.

Augmented vasoconstrictor response to head-up tilt in peripheral tissues during beta-receptor blockade

Subcutaneous and skeletal muscle blood flow in the forearm during 30 degrees head-up tilt was studied in 15 healthy subjects before and during treatment with propranolol. Relative blood flow was estimated by the local 133Xe washout technique. Head-up tilt elicited greater vasoconstriction in both tissues during beta-receptor blockade as compared to the pretreatment period. Proximal nerve blockade with lidocaine prevented the vasoconstrictor response in subcutaneous tissue to the tilt. In skeletal muscle injection of a low dose of propranolol had no effect on the vasoconstrictor response to tilt. Therefore, the augmented vasoconstrictor response to head-up tilt during beta-receptor blockade is most probably due to centrally elicited (baroreceptor) and neurogenically mediated impulses to resistance vessels in peripheral tissues and not to "unmasking" of peripheral alpha-receptors.

The pressor effect of moderate alcohol consumption in man: a search for mechanisms

Thirty pairs of drinking and nondrinking men, matched for age and weight, were drawn from a working population in which a close relationship between alcohol consumption and blood pressure had been demonstrated. In this smaller sample, men who drank an average of 408 ml of ethanol/week had higher supine (126.9 +/- 2.3 mm Hg) and standing (113.3 +/- 2.5 mm Hg) systolic and supine diastolic blood pressure (75.5 +/- 2.2 mm Hg) than nondrinkers (117.5 +/- 2.0, 107.4 +/- 2.2 and 68.9 +/- 1.8 mm Hg, respectively). Resting plasma concentrations of free and sulfated norepinephrine and epinephrine, renin activity, angiotensin II, aldosterone and cortisol were similar in drinkers and nondrinkers. To investigate differences that may arise when sympathoadrenal activity was stimulated, the subjects underwent a series of standardized physiologic stresses: isometric hand grip, mental arithmetic, cold pressor testing, standing and bicycle exercise. Blood pressure and heart rate responses were similar in drinkers and nondrinkers, although the differences in blood pressure between the two groups tended to become smaller after certain stresses. No differences in the plasma levels of free or conjugated catecholamines were apparent after these stresses. Plasma renin activity increased only after bicycle exercise, and this was similar in both groups. Plasma cortisol levels did not increase. The higher blood pressure in drinkers, therefore, cannot be explained by increased activity of the sympathoadrenal and renal pressor mechanisms.

Atenolol reduces blood pressure and FEV in normal subjects

In a double-blind placebo controlled cross-over trial involving six subjects, atenolol, taken by mouth for 3 days, caused a statistically significant reduction in blood pressure and FEV₁.

How intrinsic sympathomimetic activity modulates the haemodynamic responses to beta-adrenoceptor antagonists. A clue to the nature of their antihypertensive mechanism

1 A survey has been made of the literature on acute and long-term haemodynamic effects of ten different β-adrenoceptor antagonists.

The β-adrenoceptor blockers are: pindolol, practolol, alprenolol, oxprenolol, acebutolol, penbutolol, metoprolol, atenolol, propranolol and timolol. The total numbers of patients included in this review are 396 patients in 41 acute studies and 410 patients in 36 long-term studies.

2 The effects of β-adrenoceptor blockers on the concentrations of plasma noradrenaline have also been reviewed. Ten studies including 110 patients on non-ISA-β-adrenoceptor blockers and eight studies including 116 patients on pindolol are presented.

3 In the acute studies (i.e. 15-90 min) arterial pressure was lowered by 1-7% and in the long-term studies (i.e. 3 days-5 years) by 6-17%.

4 The degree of cardio-depression induced by the various β-adrenoceptor blockers was inversely correlated with their pharmacologically defined quantity of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity (ISA) both in acute and in long-term studies.

5 In the acute studies the increments in peripheral vascular resistance were directly correlated with the degree of cardio-depression. This suggests that a fall in arterial pressure immediately after administration of a β-adrenoceptor blocker is prevented by increased vasoconstrictor nerve activity mediated through the arterial baroreflex.

6 The compensatory response of vascular resistance to cardio-depression was similar for β₁-selective and non-selective blockers, thereby indicating that extra-junctional vascular β-receptors are relatively unimportant for maintaining basal vascular tone.

7 In the long-term studies the correlation between changes in cardiac output and changes in vascular resistance was shifted to a lower level of vascular resistance. This means that the onset of blood pressure reduction during β-adrenoceptor blockade was associated with a fall in vascular resistance at any level of cardiac output. Thus vascular resistance was higher during treatment with a non-ISA-β-adrenoceptor blocker than during treatment with an ISA-β-adrenoceptor blocker.

8 The level of vascular resistance ultimately attained during treatment with the various β-adrenoceptor blockers appears to be inversely related to their effects on plasma renin activity.

9 The concentration of noradrenaline in plasma rose by approximately 30% during treatment with non-ISA-β-adrenoceptor blockers and fell by more than 30% after pindolol.

10 There is evidence that under propranolol, which reduces cardiac output and hepatic blood flow, the plasma noradrenaline clearance is diminished. Since noradrenaline is mainly cleared from the circulation by the lungs and by the liver, and since pindolol has no effect on cardiac output and hepatic blood flow, one may expect the plasma noradrenaline clearance not to be diminished by pindolol.

11 The reported effects of β-adrenoceptor blockers on plasma noradrenaline may indicate that the release of neurotransmitter is diminished, but in the case of non-ISA-β-adrenoceptor blockers this effect is not reflected by a decreased concentration of noradrenaline in plasma, because its clearance is also reduced.

12 The hypotensive effect of β-adrenoceptor blockers appears to be independent of blockade of postjunctional cardiac-β-receptors, juxtaglomerular-β-receptors and extrajunctional vascular β-receptors. This indicates that blockade of β-receptors at other sites (i.e. centrally and/or prejunctionally) is more important.