International Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) is published by IMR Press from Volume 21 Issue 4 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the CC-BY licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement.
Binding of Amitriptyline to Adenosine A1 or A2a Receptors Using Radioligand Binding Assay
1 Department of Medical Pharmacology, Division of Clinical Toxicology, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey
2 Department of Medical Pharmacology, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey
3 Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
Abstract
Background and Objective: Tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline (AMT) may result in life-threatening cardiovascular toxicities. Previous studies showed that AMT-induced cardiovascular toxic effects were prevented/reversed by selective adenosine receptor (AR) antagonists. This study aimed to examine whether AMT mediates its cardiovascular effect through binding to ARs and for this purpose measured the binding affinity of AMT to A1-or A2a-ARs. Materials and Methods: Membranes expressing the A1- or A2a-ARs were labeled with their specific radioactive ligands ([3H]-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine and [3H]CGS21680, respectively). The displacement of the radioligand binding was determined in the presence of different concentrations of AMT or the selective adenosine receptor antagonists for A1-AR and A2a-AR, 8-Cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX) and [8-(3-Chlorostyryl) caffeine (CSC), respectively. The student’s t-test was used to compare the differences of two groups. Results: The bound A2a-AR radioligand was completely displaced by AMT and the Ki value was calculated [half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50): 51.42±15.87 μM and Ki: 4.8±0.11 μM, p<0.05]. High concentrations of AMT (10–4 and 10–3 M) inhibited radioligand binding to the A1-AR, which was nearly 25% (p<0.05). Conclusion: AMT showed significant binding to the A2a-AR, which might play an important role in its pharmacological and toxicological effects. Finally, the toxicity of high AMT concentrations may be mediated through the A1-AR.
Keywords
- Adenosine
- amitriptyline
- A1-adenosine receptor
- A2a-adenosine receptor
- radioligand
- ligand binding
