Publications by authors named "Szallasi A"

Capsazepine was reported to block capsaicin- and resiniferatoxin (RTX)-induced responses both in vivo and in vitro with Schild plots suggesting a competitive mechanism of action. We have used the [3H]RTX binding assay, thought to represent the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor, to explore the inhibitory mechanism of capsazepine at the receptor level in the rat. In competition assays, capsazepine inhibited [3H]RTX binding by spinal cord, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and urinary bladder membranes with similar Ki values of 4.

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1. The potential role of capsaicin-sensitive nerves in the relaxation of the rat external urethral sphincter (REUS) was evaluated by demonstrating the existence of specific vanilloid (capsaicin) receptors and by investigating the sensory neurotransmitter(s) putatively involved in this relaxation. 2.

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Specific [3H]resiniferatoxin (RTX) binding is thought to represent the postulated vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor. In the present report, this binding has been reevaluated using a modified [3H] RTX binding assay in which the high nonspecific binding, which limited the previous characterization, was reduced by adding alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, a plasma protein that binds RTX, to the usual binding assay after RTX binding by the vanilloid receptor had been terminated. Specific [3H]RTX binding by both dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and spinal cord membranes of the rat followed sigmoidal saturation kinetics indicating apparent positive cooperativity.

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Using selective surgical ablations we have investigated the localization of vanilloid receptors (specific [3H] resiniferatoxin binding sites) on terminals of the pelvic, hypogastric, and pudendal nerves in the rat urinary bladder. Pelvic and hypogastric nerve resections resulted in 90% and 25% loss of specific [3H] resiniferatoxin (RTX) binding sites, respectively, whilst pudendic nerve resection had no measurable effect on the binding. In control animals, the density of vanilloid receptors was 1.

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Specific binding of [3H]resiniferatoxin (RTX) is thought to represent the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor. In the present study, we have used this binding assay to identify for the first time a vanilloid receptor in the periphery and to compare it to central vanilloid receptors present in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) as well as in spinal cord of the rat. Rat urinary bladder membranes bound [3H]RTX with a Kd of 30 +/- 4 pM and a Bmax of 65 +/- 14 fmol/mg protein; the corresponding values were 19 +/- 3 pM and 104 +/- 14 fmol/mg protein in DRG, and 16 +/- 3 pM and 50 +/- 9 fmol/mg protein in spinal cord.

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Specific binding of [3H]resiniferatoxin (RTX) is thought to represent the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor. In the present study, we have used this binding assay to elucidate the contribution of differential receptor expression to the capsaicin-resistance of hamsters and rabbits; binding parameters were compared to those of species (rats, mice) regarded as capsaicin-sensitive. Whereas the 5-fold lower affinity for [3H]RTX binding in the hamster (100 pM) as compared to the rat (20 pM) is unlikely to account for the 100-fold difference in the in vivo responses of RTX-induced inflammation and hypothermia, the lack of detectable specific [3H]RTX binding sites in the rabbit might represent the predominant mechanism of capsaicin-resistance in this species.

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Exogenous administration of lipoxin A4 (LXA4) to guinea pig isolated bronchus produced contractile effects in a concentration-dependent manner (1, 3, and 6 microM). These responses were potentiated when preparations were previously incubated with thiorphan (10 microM), an inhibitor of tachykinin breakdown, but were significantly depressed when sensory nerves were previously desensitized in vitro by capsaicin (10 microM for 15 min) challenge. Ruthenium red (10 microM for 20 min), a blocker of the cationic channel coupled to the capsaicin receptor, also produced, although in a weaker manner, a reduction in bronchomotor responses elicited by LXA4.

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We have used the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor assay to search for modulators of binding activity. We report here that both capsaicin and its ultrapotent analog, resiniferatoxin (RTX), bind to the plasma protein alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) with high affinity (10.5 and 0.

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Changes of intracellular ionic homeostasis are believed to play a role in the cytostatic action of cis-DDP. It has been observed by means of X-ray microanalysis that cis-DDP did not alter the intracellular Na+/K(+)-ratio of K 562 leukemia cells during incubation periods which lasted shorter than the average doubling time of the cells of nearly 15 h. After 24 h the treated cells displayed at least two main populations in the distribution histogram of the Na+/K(+)-ratio.

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A dose-dependent loss of vanilloid receptors (specific [3H]resiniferatoxin binding sites) was found in sensory ganglia of rats 24 h after s.c. administration of resiniferatoxin (RTX), an ultrapotent capsaicin analog.

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We have recently reported the specific binding of [3H]resiniferatoxin to sensory ganglion membranes; this binding appears to represent the postulated vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor. In the present report, we compare the structure/activity relations for binding to rat dorsal root ganglion membranes and for biological responses in the rat, using a series of vanilloids of the capsaicin (homovanilloyl-decylamide, homovanilloyl-dodecylamide, homovanilloyl-cyclododecylamide, homovanilloyl-hexadecylamide, homovanilloyl-piperidine and nonenoyl-homoveratrylamide) and resiniferatoxin (tinyatoxin, 12-deoxyphorbol 13-phenylacetate 20-homovanillate) classes. We find that all the tested biologically active vanilloids, but not the inactive structure analogs, compete for the [3H]resiniferatoxin binding sites in rat dorsal root ganglion membranes, and we conclude that the [3H]resiniferatoxin binding assay may provide an efficient approach for evaluating such compounds.

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