Adrenergic presynaptic receptors: examination of a hypothesis in guinea pig vas deferens.

The hypothesis was examined that phenoxybenzamine enhances both the overflow of noradrenaline and the mechanical response in guinea pig vas deferens by blockade of presynaptic inhibitory receptors located on adrenergic nerve terminals which serve a negative-feedback function. Preparations were stimulated with a constant small number of pulses but at three different frequencies (1, 5, and 15 Hz) and the relative effectiveness of phenoxybenzamine in enhancing overflow assessed. According to the presynaptic receptor hypothesis inhibition of transmitter output should increase with increasing frequency due to increased activation of receptor sites by endogenously released noradrenaline. The antagonist enhanced the overflow of tritium but did so to a similar extent at all three frequencies, regardless of the length of the interval between pulses. Similarly, no evidence for a greater sensitization of the mechanical response by phenoxybenzamine at the higher frequencies was obtained. The conditions of the present experiment were considered optimal for the operation of the negative-feedback system and the results indicate that the physiological relevance of such a system is questionable.