The comparative binding characteristics of nicotinic ligands and their pharmacology

Five drugs [(−)- and (+)-nicotine, (−)-lobeline, (−)-anabasine and (−)-cytisine] were infused IV into the urethane-pentobarbital anesthetized rat. Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, minute and tidal volume, which appeared to be largely centrally mediated, were studied. Each of these compounds produced different pharmacologic profiles. The nature of these dissimilarities is not readily explained on the basis of pharmacokinetic considerations suggesting that the drugs have different mechanisms of action. Binding data obtained with these compounds using the rat brain P 2 preparation also show differences. (−)-Lobeline and (−)-anabasine, like the nicotinic antagonists mecamylamine and hexamethonium, bind predominantly to low affinity sites with K Ds in the micromolar range whereas (−)-cytisine binds only to a single high affinity site with a K D in the nanomolar range. Further, the binding patterns of these drugs are different from (−)- and (+)-nicotine which bind to both high and low affinity sites but differ from each other in binding characteristics. Thus the binding data are consistent with the pharmacologic data in suggesting that the drugs have different modes of action and support the concept that the low affinity site has an important role in the central nervous system action of these compounds.