ABSTRACT. Participation of nitric oxide, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) in nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) relaxation of longitudinal muscle of various intestinal regions in Sprague Dawley rats (8-weekold) was studied in vitro. Nitric oxide was suggested to participate in NANC relaxation of every intestinal region studied. But the participation was partial and its extent varied among the regions: significant in the proximal colon and rectum, and moderate in the jejunum, ileum and distal colon. Participation of PACAP in NANC relaxation was suggested only in the distal colon, while that of VIP was not detected in any of regions. Results obtained in the present study indicate that extent of participation of nitric oxide in NANC relaxation in Sprague Dawley rat intestine is more significant than those of other strains, Wistar and Wistar-ST.KEY WORDS: NANC (nonadrenergic noncholinergic) relaxation, nitric oxide, PACAP, rat intestine, VIP.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 62(8): 821-828, 2000 Nitric oxide has been suggested to mediate nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) relaxation in many regions of the gastrointestinal tract [22,23]. However, accumulated evidence suggests that the role of nitric oxide in NANC relaxation is not uniform throughout the gastrointestine, but quite variable in region to region. Wistar-ST rat intestine is a case in point. That is, an essential role of nitric oxide in the relaxation was suggested in circular [11] and longitudinal [24,26] muscles of the proximal colon, and in circular muscle of the rectum [27], while only minor or no role was suggested in longitudinal muscle of the jejunum [19] or the distal colon [16,24], respectively. In addition to regional difference, we recently found a strain difference in the mediator of NANC relaxation of the distal colon of rats between the Sprague Dawley and Wistar-ST strains: nitric oxide was suggested to partially mediate NANC relaxation of the Sprague Dawley but not Wistar-ST strain [21].In addition to nitric oxide, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is another candidate for the mediator of NANC relaxation in several gastrointestinal regions: lower oesophageal sphincter of opossums [5] and rabbits [2], stomach of dogs [1], guinea pigs [6, 10] and rats [13], taenia coli of guinea pigs [7,10], and colon of rats [9,24]. Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) was also suggested to mediate NANC relaxation in some regions: lower oesophageal sphincter of cats and humans [20], stomach of guinea pigs [14], and colon of guinea pigs [12] and rats [8,15]. We suggested that VIP and PACAP mediate NANC relaxation of longitudinal muscle of the distal colon of Wistar-ST rats via opening of charybdotoxin-and apamin-sensitive K + channels, respectively [15,25]. However, participation of the peptides as well as nitric oxide in NANC relaxation does not seem to be uniform throughout the gastrointestine. For example, neither role of VIP in longitudinal muscle of the proximal and mid colon [24], a...