gamma-Aminobutyric acid and postganglionic sympathetic transmission in the pulmonary artery of the rabbit.

1 The effect of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on postganglionic sympathetic neurotransmission was studied in strips of the rabbit pulmonary artery. The strips were preincubated with 3H-noradrenaline and then superfused with 3H-amine-free medium. They were stimulated either electrically at 2 Hz, or by 60 mM potassium, or by 1 microM tyramine. 2 GABA (1 - 1000 microM) did not change the basal outflow of tritium, but decreased the electrically evoked overflow as well as the contractile response. GABA 1 microM decreased the evoked overflow by 12%, and GABA 1000 microM, by 42%. The effect of GABA was not changed by yohimbine, propranolol, cocaine, corticosterone, or indomethacin. It was not antagonized by picrotoxin or bicuculline methiodide. GABA 100 microM also slightly reduced the potassium-evoked overflow of tritium but did not change the tyramine-evoked overflow. 3 The results show that, in the pulmonary artery of the rabbit, GABA inhibits the release of noradrenaline. Its effect is independent of alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptors and is not mediated by prostaglandins. The effect may be due to activation of presynaptic receptors which appear to differ from conventional GABA receptors inasmuch as they are insensitive to blockade by either picrotoxin or bicuculline.