Effect of ageing on the number of neuronal noradrenaline uptake sites in the rat vas deferens.

Previous work has shown an age-related reduction in neuronal uptake of noradrenaline in the prostatic, but not in the epididymal portion of the rat vas deferens. In the present paper, the influence of ageing on the number of [3H]desipramine binding sites and on the effect of lithium on neuronal [3H]noradrenaline uptake were studied in the prostatic and epididymal portions of vasa deferentia from 4- and 20-month-old rats. The affinity for [3H]desipramine (Kd values) in the epididymal and prostatic portions did not change with age. However, ageing reduced the maximal number of [3H]desipramine binding sites (Bmax values) in the prostatic, but not in the epididymal portion. Lithium potentiated neuronal [3H]noradrenaline uptake only in the prostatic portion and this potentiation was not changed by ageing. The results showed differences in neuronal noradrenaline uptake between the two portions of the vas deferens. Furthermore, the data suggest that the age-related reduction in neuronal uptake in the prostatic portion is due to a reduction in the number of neuronal uptake sites for noradrenaline.