1 Nicotine produced a transient contraction of isolated strips of guinea-pig urinary bladder. The response to nicotine was antagonized by the nicotinic receptor antagonist, hexamethonium but was insensitive to tetrodotoxin.2 The nicotine-induced contraction was potentiated by the cholinesterase inhibitor, physostigmine, and was reduced to 50% and 70% by the muscarinic cholinoceptor antagonist, atropine and the sympathetic neurone blocking drug, guanethidine, respectively. Chemical denervation with 6-hydroxydopamine abolished the inhibitory effect of guanethidine. Simultaneous treatment with atropine and guanethidine did not abolish the response to nicotine, but the degree of inhibition was comparable to that obtained with atropine alone.3 The nicotine-induced contraction was insensitive to bunazosin and yohimbine (al-and Cc2-adrenoceptor antagonists, respectively), and exogenously applied noradrenaline did not cause a contraction even in the presence of blockade of noradrenaline uptake mechanisms with desipramine and normetanephrine and of fi-adrenoceptors with propranolol, suggesting a non-adrenergic nature of the sympathomimetic effect of nicotine in this tissue. 4 The nicotine-induced contraction in the presence of atropine was abolished after desensitization of P2-purinoceptors with a, ,B-methylene adenosine 5'-triphosphate, a slowly degradable ATP analogue selective for P2-purinoceptors. By this desensitization, the response to ATP, but not to histamine, was also abolished.5 A cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor flurbiprofen partially inhibited the nicotine-induced contraction. The degree of the inhibition was more pronounced in the presence of atropine than in its absence. Flurbiprofen antagonized the response to exogenously applied ATP in an unsurmountable manner, but not that to carbachol.6 The present results suggest that nicotine might induce a contraction through an interaction with nicotinic receptors located on the terminals of, possibly, (i) parasympathetic cholinergic, (ii) sympathetic non-adrenergic and (iii) non-sympathetic purinergic nerves in guinea-pig detrusor preparations, and that a portion of the contraction due to the purine nucleotide released is possibly potentiated by intramural prostaglandin(s). Parasympathetic cholinergic output might be modulated by an unknown excitatory substance released by nicotine from sympathetic nerve.7 Nicotine reveals a latent excitatory effect of the sympathetic hypogastric nerve which innervates guinea-pig detrusor.

The effects of aging on alpha 1-adrenoceptor mechanisms in aortic preparations isolated from 3-, 6-, 10-, 18-, and 40-week-old rats were studied and compared with serotonin receptor mechanisms in the same preparations. The potency (pD2 value) of noradrenaline increased with age from 3 to 10 weeks, but decreased thereafter with age from 10 to 40 weeks. The affinity (pKA value) of noradrenaline and of prazosin (pA2 value) did not alter with aging. The change in potency or the pD2 value of noradrenaline was proportional to receptor reserve (pD2-pKA value) for noradrenaline, suggesting that the change of potency of noradrenaline with age was due to a change of receptor reserve, but not to change of drug affinity to alpha 1-adrenoceptors. The potency (pD2 value) and affinity (pKA value) of serotonin, and the affinity (pA2 value) of ketanserin, did not alter with aging, suggesting that serotonin receptor mechanisms in rat aorta did not change with age. The inhibitory effect of diltiazem on noradrenaline maximum response decreased with age from 3 to 10 weeks, but increased with age from 10 to 40 weeks. An inverse relationship between changes of diltiazem inhibition and receptor reserve of noradrenaline was found. Diltiazem's inhibitory effect on serotonin maximum response did not alter with aging.

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1 The effects of guanethidine and tachykinins on nicotine-and electrical stimulation-induced cholinoceptor responses were studied in isolated urinary bladder from the guinea-pig. 2 Acetylcholine release and the contractile response stimulated by nicotine were partially reduced by a sympathetic nerve blocker, guanethidine. Neurokinin A (but not substance P methyl ester or senktide) enhanced both acetylcholine release and contraction by nicotine in the presence of guanethidine. 3 Frequency-contraction curves (1 to 50 Hz) for electrical field stimulation (EFS) were partially reduced by atropine (1 gM), and after desensitization to ,-methylene adenosine 5'-triphosphate, the atropine-resistant contraction to EFS was completely abolished. Guanethidine, the tachykinin antagonist [D-Arg', D-Pro2, Trp7'9, Leu"]-substance P and application of neurokinin A or substance P did not change the contractile response to EFS. Preganglionic nerve stimulation (5 Hz and 20 Hz) also evoked a similar response to EFS and was not influenced at all by guanethidine or neurokinin A. 4 We conclude that the ability of nicotine to release acetylcholine is enhanced both by endogenous tachykinins (probably released from sympathetic nerves) and by exogenously applied tachykinins as a result of interaction with NK2 receptors in the urinary bladder.

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