An electrophysiological analysis of the effects of noradrenaline and alpha-receptor antagonists on neuromuscular transmission in mammalian muscular arteries.

1 The effects of exogenously applied noradrenaline (NA) and alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists on the mechanical and intracellularly recorded responses to perivascular nerve stimulation were examined in the rabbit ear artery, rabbit saphenous artery and rat tail artery. 2 Excitatory junction potentials (e.j.ps) and action potentials recorded from these smooth muscles were not blocked or depressed by phentolamine, phenoxybenzamine, prazosin, or labetolol in concentrations as high as 10 microgram/ml. Phentolamine (1 to 10 microgram/ml) depressed neurally-evoked contractions of the ear and saphenous, but not the tail artery, and also depressed the contractions produced by direct muscle stimulation in the ear and saphenous arteries. Prazosin and labetolol (0.1 to 10 microgram/ml) had no effect on the neurally evoked contractile response in any of the arteries examined. 3 The amplitude of the steady-state e.j.p. during repetitive stimulation at 0.45 to 2 Hz was increased by phentolamine or phenoxybenzamine but not by prazosin or labetolol. Phentolamine and phenoxybenzamine also increased the amplitude of the e.j.p. evoked by a single stimulus in the majority of the preparations. 4 Concentrations of NA greater than or equal to 1 microgram/ml depolarized the smooth muscle while concentrations greater than or equal to 0.5 microgram/ml depressed the amplitude of the e.j.ps recorded from these arteries. alpha-Antagonists did not suppress either the NA-induced membrane depolarization or depression of e.j.ps. 5 These observations call into question the physiological relevance of both pre- and postsynaptic alpha-receptors in regard to adrenergic neuromuscular transmission in muscular arteries.