Whether large coronary artery dilation induced by beta-adrenergic stimulation is mediated by beta 1- or beta 2-adrenergic receptors remains controversial. This problem is particularly difficult to address in vivo due to the concomitant increase in coronary blood flow with beta-adrenergic stimulation, which by itself can dilate large coronary arteries. To reconcile this problem, 5 calves were instrumented with intraaortic and intracoronary (i.c.) catheters, ultrasonic diameter transducers, Doppler flow transducers, and hydraulic occluders on the left circumflex coronary artery. Two to six weeks following surgery, beta-adrenergic agonists were administered i.c. to avoid complicating systemic effects. Isoproterenol (0.0025 micrograms/kg, a beta 1 + beta 2-adrenergic agonist) increased coronary diameter (7.1 +/- 0.8% from 5.80 +/- 0.58 mm) (p less than 0.01). Similar increases (p less than 0.01) in coronary diameter occurred with prenalterol (0.4 micrograms/kg, beta 1-adrenergic agonist) (9.5 +/- 1.4%) and pirbuterol (0.25 micrograms/kg, beta 2-adrenergic agonist) (8.1 +/- 1.2%). When coronary blood flow was prevented from rising with the hydraulic constrictor, increases in coronary diameter to all three beta-adrenergic agonists were not attenuated. Large coronary artery dilation with prenalterol and pirbuterol was abolished with beta 1- and beta 2-adrenergic receptor blockade, respectively, while neither beta 1- nor beta 2-adrenergic blockade alone abolished the large coronary artery dilation with isoproterenol. To identify the predominant subtype of beta-adrenergic receptor, competitive inhibition curves utilizing 125I-cyanopindolol (125I-CYP) as the radiolabel versus isoproterenol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine were generated in membrane preparations from calf heart (predominant beta 1), calf lung (predominant beta 2) and calf coronary artery. The coronary artery membrane preparations demonstrated an intermediate pattern. Competition curves with selective beta 1- and beta 2-adrenergic receptor agonists and antagonists again demonstrated a pattern for coronary artery intermediate to that of heart and lung, further confirming the presence of both beta-adrenergic receptor subtypes in large coronary arteries, with a ratio of beta 1: beta 2 of 1.5-2.0:1.0. Thus, large coronary arteries of the calf contain both beta 1- and beta 2-adrenergic receptors identified utilizing ligand binding techniques, and stimulation of both receptor subtypes in the intact conscious animal results in large coronary artery dilation, independent of blood-flow-mediated vasodilation.