The chronotropic cardiac effects of alinidine were studied in the conscious dog with chronic atrioventricular block. Alinidine at 0.5 - 4 mg/kg, i.e., at plasma concentrations between 42 +/- 2 and 1625 +/- 371 ng/ml, initially increased atrial rate dose-dependently. This effect fell off rapidly, but atrial bradycardia was never observed. After atropine and pindolol, which raised basal atrial rate, alinidine (2 mg/kg) decreased atrial rate, whereas after phenoxy-benzamine, yohimbine or phentolamine, it produced atrial effects identical to those observed under basal conditions, i.e., initial tachycardia and no bradycardia. Alinidine dose-relatedly decreased ventricular rate. None of the pretreatments modified the maximal ventricular bradycardia, but interestingly after pindolol or yohimbine this effect developed more rapidly (maximal bradycardia between 3 and 5 against 30 min) and then declined progressively. Alinidine did not modify mean blood pressure at any dose. After atropine, phenoxybenzamine or phentolamine, alinidine remained without effect on mean blood pressure, but after pindolol or yohimbine, a hypotensive effect appeared concomitantly with the reduction of the ventricular bradycardia. These results show that the initial atrial cardioacceleration due to alinidine results from a direct vagolytic action of this drug and that the absence of atrial bradycardia results from buffering by the vagolytic effect and/or a relatively low basal atrial rate. They also suggest that the ventricular bradycardia does not involve either the muscarinic cholinoceptors or the alpha- or beta-adrenoceptors, though the results obtained after pindolol or yohimbine suggest possible involvement of a fall in sympathetic tone by stimulation of presynaptic or central alpha2-adrenoceptors, particularly in the persistence of the bradycardic effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)