Bordetella pertussis does not induce beta-adrenergic blockade

Abstract

Bordetella pertussis organisms induce histamine sensitivity and diminish the normal hyperglycemic response to epinephrine in experimental animals. These effects have been attributed to ,8-adrenergic blockade. However, under conditions in which the decrease in epinephrine-induced hyperglycemia after B. pertussis administration was demonstrable, there was no change in rat reticulocyte ,8adrenergic receptor number or affinity measured by iodohydroxybenzylpindolol binding or in isoproterenol-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. Therefore, there was no generalized,-adrenergic blockade induced by B. pertussis. The observed effects can be explained by the hypersecretion of insulin resulting from B. pertussis administration.

Biphasic effect of pertussis vaccine on serum insulin in mice

“…2 and 4). This paradoxical catecholamine effect explains the loss of epinephrine-induced hyperglycemia in pertussis vaccine-treated rats and mice (16,19,24,33), the observation which originally prompted Gulbenkian et al to examine insulin levels in those animals (16). These workers found hyperinsulinemia as early as 1 day after vaccine administration and demonstrated that the observed levels represented biologically active insulin (16).…”

“…It was previously thought that the decreased response to epinephrine was mediated by ,-adrenergic blockade induced by the bacteria (33). More recently, however, it has been shown by direct binding studies that B. pertussis administration does not cause blockade of the P-adrenergic receptor (19). It is now known that a factor from the organism causes fasting hyperinsulinemia or enhanced insulin secretion in response to insulin secretagogues (or both) (16,32,36).…”