Effect of beta-adrenoceptive blocking agents on the response to bronchoconstrictor drugs in the guinea-pig air overflow preparation. Appendix describing a new modification of the air overflow method.

1. Propranolol augmented the bronchoconstrictor response to methacholine or histamine, recorded by air overflow in the anaesthetized, vagotomized guinea-pig.2. After adrenalectomy, propranolol was still active, though less so than before.3. In the pithed guinea-pig, there was no augmentation of the effect of bronchoconstrictors on air overflow. The action of propranolol could thus be due to the beta-adrenoceptor blockade of compensatory sympathetic bronchodilator activity, as concluded by McCulloch, Proctor & Rand (1967).4. Electrical stimulation of the thoracic region of the spinal cord of the pithed guinea-pig reduced the effect of bronchoconstrictors on air overflow. This reduction could be blocked by propranolol; practolol was much less effective.