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The classification of cu,-adrenoceptors has required regular revision to incorporate the latest pharmacological and, latterly, molecular biological data. A popular conception nowadays is that four ul-adrenoceptors exist, each with high affinity for prazosinle3. Three of these receptors have been cloned (cr,~, ale and cw, o), with the fourth, the socalled ‘classical’wlA-adrenoceptor, remaining an elusive molecular target.

However, it may be premature to discriminate between the classical cu,*-adrenoceptor and the cloned a,=-adrenoceptor, and the quest for a fourth nl-adrenoceptor with high affinity for prazosin may be in vain. Molecular biological evidence from rat, in the form of a cloned homologue of the bovine ac, c-adrenoceptorG”, supports this contention. The subdivision of ar,-adrenoceptors was derived princitpally from ligand-binding studies, s. In rat cerebral cortex, cu,-adrenoceptors with high affinity for [3H …