Agonist-induced regulation of adrenergic receptors (ARs) has an important role in controlling physiological functions in response to changes in catecholamine stimulation. We previously generated transgenic mice expressing phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT) under the control of a human dopamine beta-hydroxylase gene promoter to switch catecholamine specificity from the norepinephrine phenotype to the epinephrine phenotype. In the present study, we first examined changes in catecholamine metabolism in peripheral tissues innervated by sympathetic neurons of the transgenic mice. In the transgenic target tissues, a high-level expression of PNMT led to a dramatic increase in the epinephrine levels, whereas the norepinephrine levels were decreased to 48.6-87.9% of the nontransgenic control levels. Analysis of plasma catecholamines in adrenalectomized mice showed large amounts of epinephrine derived from sympathetic neurons in the transgenic mice. Subsequently, we performed radioligand binding assays with (-)-[125I]iodocyanopindolol to determine changes in binding sites of beta-AR subtypes. In transgenic mice, the number of beta 2-AR binding sites was 56.4-74.9% of their nontransgenic values in the lung, spleen, submaxillary gland, and kidney, whereas the beta 1-AR binding sites were regulated in a different fashion among these tissues. Moreover, northern blot analysis of total RNA from the lung tissues showed that down-regulation of beta 2 binding sites was accompanied by a significant decrease in steady-state levels of the receptor mRNA. These results strongly suggest that alteration of catecholamine specificity in the transgenic sympathetic neurons leads to regulated expression of the beta-AR subtypes in their target tissues.