Some pharmacological properties of the cremaster muscle of the guinea-pig.

1 The tension developed in the guinea-pig cremaster was recorded during spontaneous activity and electrical stimulation. Spontaneous rhythmic contraction was observed in many preparations, particularly in the tip of the cremaster. These contractions were very slow, lasting about 20 s and occuring at about 2 min intervals, but different preparations varied greatly. Twitches produced by electrical stimulation were similar to those in other skeletal muscles, being reduced by (+)-tubocurarine and abolished by tetrodotoxin. 2 A slow contraction could be initiated by electrical stimulation using a pulse longer than 10 ms in spontaneously active preparations and in some quiescent preparations. Spontaneous and evoked slow contractions were not suppressed by tetrodotoxin, but were selectively abolished by verapamil. Histamine increased the basal tension and generated spontaneous contractions in quiescent preparations. Hypertonic solutions also had excitatory effects. 3 Contractions produced by acetylcholine and carbachol were blocked by atropine. Those produced by adrenaline and noradrenaline were stronger than those due to histamine, acetylcholine and carbachol and were abolished by an alpha-adrenoceptor blocking agent, phentolamine. In the preparations in which the slow contraction was not observed, histamine, acetylcholine or adrenaline had very little effect. 4 It is suggested that the cremaster muscle consists of striated muscle together with some smooth muscle having properties similar to that in the vas deferens.