(1 m mol/L), peptidase inhibitors (captopril, thiorphan and bestatin; 1 m mol/L each) or piroxicam (10 m mol/L). The rank order of potency of agonists was neurokinin A > substance P > carbachol. Contractile responses to neurokinin A and substance P, like the contractile responses to carbachol, were abolished in a nominally Ca
2+-free medium and significantly reduced by nifedipine (1 m mol/L). SKF-96365 (60 m mol/L), an inhibitor of receptor-mediated Ca 2+ entry, abolished the nifedipine-resistant response to substance P and carbachol, and significantly attenuated the response to neurokinin A. Depleting intracellular Ca 2+ stores with thapsigargin (1 m mol/L) significantly attenuated neurokinin A-induced contractions but had no effect on substance P-or carbachol-induced contractions. The Rho-kinase inhibitor, Y-27632 (10 m mol/L), significantly reduced both phasic and tonic components of the contractile responses to neurokinin A, substance P and carbachol.
CONCLUSIONThe contractile responses induced by tachykinins in rat urinary bladder smooth muscle strips involve a direct action on smooth muscle and are not modulated by peptidases or prostanoids. Neurokinin A and substance P, like carbachol-induced contractions, depend on extracellular Ca 2+ influx largely through voltage-operated and partly through receptor-operated Ca 2+ channels. Intracellular Ca 2+ release contributes to the contractile response to neurokinin A but appears to have no involvement in substance P-and carbacholinduced contractions. Rho-kinase activation contributes to contractions induced by substance P, neurokinin A and carbachol.