Characterization of cholinoreceptors in the rat urinary bladder by the use of agonists and antagonists of the cholinergic system.

The effects of stimulatory and inhibitory compounds acting on both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors have been evaluated in the isolated urinary bladder from adult and immature (14-18 days old) rats. Acetylcholine and bethanechol were found to induce concentration-dependent contractions which were inhibited by atropine and pirenzepine; compound McN-A-343 had a negligible contractile activity whereas DMPP had no effect at all. Responses to electrical field stimulation were abolished by tetrodotoxin (3 X 10(-8) M), enhanced by eserine (10(-8) M) and scarcely affected by hexamethonium (10(-3) M), trimethaphan (10(-3) M) and d-tubocurarine (10(-3) M). Atropine, pirenzepine and DMPP induced only a partial inhibition (50%) of the twitch response, whereas compound McN-A-343 caused a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect which was maximum (100% inhibition) at 10(-2) M. No significant differences were found between results obtained in immature and adult animals as regards either the stimulatory or the inhibitory compounds tested. It was concluded that postjunctional muscarinic receptors were responsible for the stimulatory responses observed, whereas an additional involvement of unknown mechanisms, probably not related to the cholinergic system, was suggested by the peculiar results obtained with DMPP and compound McN-A-343 on electrically-stimulated urinary bladder. Whatever the mechanisms involved, however, they are already present at the first stage of postnatal development.