Faucher FA, Gannier FE, Lignon JM, Cosnay P, Malécot CO. Roles of PKA, PI3K, and cPLA2 in the NO-mediated negative inotropic effect of 2-adrenoceptor agonists in guinea pig right papillary muscles. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 294: C106-C117, 2008. First published October 17, 2007 doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00231.2007.-Although 2-adrenoceptors represent 15-25% of -adrenoceptors in the guinea pig heart, their functionality is controversial. We assessed the inotropic effects of 2-adrenoceptor partial agonists in right papillary muscles. Salbutamol induced a small but significant concentration-dependent negative inotropic effect (NIE, Ϫ5% at 60 nM) followed by a moderate positive inotropic effect (ϩ36% at 6 M) due to activation of  1-adrenoceptors. In the presence of 4 M atenolol, the concentration-dependent NIE (Ϫ12% at 6 M) was biphasic, best described by a double logistic equation with respective EC50 values of 3 and ϳ420 nM, and was insensitive to SR59230A. In muscles from pertussis toxin-treated guinea pigs, the salbutamol-induced positive inotropic effect was sensitive to low concentrations of ICI-118551 in an unusual manner. Experiments in reserpinized animals revealed the importance of the phosphorylation-dephosphorylation processes. PKA inhibition reduced and suppressed the effects obtained at low and high concentrations, respectively, indicating that its activation was a prerequisite to the NIE. The effect occurring at nanomolar concentrations depended upon PKA/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/ cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA2) activations leading to nitric oxide (NO) release via the arachidonic acid/cyclooxygenase pathway. NO release via PKA-dependent phosphorylation of the receptor was responsible for the inotropic effect observed at submicromolar concentrations, which is negatively controlled by cPLA 2. The possibility that these effects are due to an equilibrium between different affinity states of the receptor (G s/Gi coupled and Gi independent with different signaling pathways) that can be displaced by ICI-118551 is discussed. We conclude that  2-adrenoceptors are functional in guinea pig heart and can modulate the inotropic state.salbutamol; -adrenoceptor antagonists; cardiac contractility; G s/-Gi coupling; active conformations -ADRENOCEPTORS play a fundamental role in the regulation of the cardiac contractile machinery, in part because of the predominance of sympathetic neuronal influences (45). In normal physiological conditions, cardiac stimulatory catecholamine effects are mostly mediated by  1 -adrenoceptors via their coupling to G s protein and activation of cAMP-dependent PKA signaling pathways.  2 -Adrenoceptors, although present at a lower density (the  1 -to  2 -adrenoceptor ratio in the human heart is ϳ70 -80%/30 -20%; Ref. 6), are more tightly coupled to the G s protein and thus induce a more pronounced activation of the adenylate cyclase (7). However, their inotropic effects are less than expected because of their localization in caveolae and the presence of a barrier of phosphodies...