Effect of some beta-adrenergic blocking agents on tissue guanylate cyclase and cyclic nucleotides in the rat.

Pretreatment of rats with the beta-adrenergic blocking agents, atenolol, practolol, pronethalol and propranolol, at a dosage of 150 mg/kg/day for 5 days, produced marked increases in guanylate cyclase activity in the liver, gastric and intestinal mucosae, but with concomitant decreases in cyclic GMP levels. The ratios of cAMP/cGMP in each of the tissues were not changed significantly from control values after pretreatment with these drugs. These observations indicate that any oncogenicity seen with beta-blocking agents is not due to the common pharmacological action of beta-adrenoreceptor blockade.