Nature of adrenoceptor sites in bovine teat muscles.

The motility of smooth muscles excised from the wall of bovine teats was studied "in vitro". These muscle preparations often show spontaneous rhythmic contractions. Administration of isoprenaline results in relaxation and decreased spontaneous motility, these effects being blocked by propranolol. Noradrenaline elicits contraction and stimulates rhythmical activity, these effects being inhibited by dibenamine. The effect of adrenaline is variable as it induces contraction or inhibition or biphasic responses. Dibenamine blocked contractions, whereas propranolol inhibited relaxations. It appears that alpha and beta adrenoceptors are present in teat muscles. Stimulation of the former elicits activation, whereas stimulation of the latter results in inhibition. These "in vitro" results are largely in agreement with "in vivo" responses described previously.