Copyright © 2006, European Society of Cardiology
The cardiac β-adrenoceptors: Where and why?
Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Medizinische Fakultät, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Str. 4, 06112 Halle, Germany
* Tel.: +49 345 557 1686; fax: +49 345 557 18 35. Email address: joachim.neumann@medizin.uni-halle.de
Received 2 May 2006; accepted 5 May 2006
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See article by Boivin et al. [1] (pages 69–78) in this issue.
The family of G-protein-coupled heptahelical receptors are widely distributed in the human body. Of special clinical importance are β-adrenoceptors, which mediate the effects of the sympathetic nervous system. In the heart, they induce, at least to a large extent, the inotropic effects of catecholamines. They confer signals from their ligands to the cell, and this signal transduction process classically runs via G-proteins to downstream effectors.