In favour of the vesicular hypothesis: neurochemical evidence that vesamicol (AH5183) inhibits stimulation-evoked release of acetylcholine from neuromuscular junction.

1. The effects of optical isomers of vesamicol (2-(4-phenylpiperidino) cyclohexanol), an inhibitor of acetylcholine (ACh) storage, on stimulation-evoked release of [3H]-acetylcholine [( 3H]-ACh) from the neuromuscular junction have been studied in the region of the mouse hemidiaphragm which contains the motor endplates, and which can easily be loaded with [3H]-choline. This method made it possible to detect exclusively the Cao-dependent release of [3H]-ACh in response to stimulation, and therefore to test the vesicular hypothesis. 2. (-)-Vesamicol was approximately 20 times more potent than (+)-vesamicol in reducing stimulation-evoked release of [3H]-ACh. 3. 4-Aminopyridine, a potassium channel blocker, enhanced the release of ACh in response to stimulation, but failed to increase release from hemidiaphragm which had been pretreated with (-)-vesamicol. 4. The fact that (-)-vesamicol inhibited the release of [3H]-ACh in response to electrical stimulation only when it was administered prior to the loading of the tissue with [3H]-choline, and had no effect when the stores had already been filled with labelled [3H]-ACh indicates that the stimulation-evoked release of [3H]-ACh is of vesicular origin and (-)-vesamicol has no effect on the release process. This is the first neurochemical evidence for the vesicular origin of stimulation-evoked release of ACh from the neuromuscular junction.