Abstract

Indirect evidence suggests that beta-1 adrenoceptors in the guinea pig ileum are innervated but it has not been determined whether "atypical" beta adrenoceptors also receive a postganglionic sympathetic innervation. To answer this question, experiments were undertaken using electrical stimulation of para-arterial sympathetic neurons to evoke relaxation in isolated segments of guinea pig ileum. Tension was developed in the ileal segments by either transmural electrical field stimulation to evoke the cholinergic "twitch" response, or by histamine to produce a steady-state contracture. Para-arterial sympathetic nerve stimulation evoked a frequency-dependent inhibition of the twitch response which was blocked by guanethidine and restored by dexamphetamine, indicating typical noradrenergic transmission. In preparations contracted with histamine and pretreated with benextramine to block alpha adrenoceptors, para-arterial sympathetic nerve stimulation evoked frequency-dependent relaxations which were reduced in magnitude but not abolished by the following beta adrenoceptor antagonists: bromoacetylalprenololmenthane (1 microM) or a combination of ICI 118,551 (0.3 microM) and CGP 20712A (0.1 microM). Remaining responses were blocked by compounds exhibiting affinity for atypical beta adrenoceptors, (-)-alprenolol (3 microM) and nadolol (300 microM), as well as the agonist (-)-isoproterenol (10 microM; to saturate the atypical beta adrenoceptor). However, relaxations to papaverine were unaffected by these treatments. Experiments revealed that potential cotransmitters (ATP, neuropeptide Y and somatostatin) do not appear to play a detectable role in relaxations produced by para-arterial sympathetic nerve stimulation. The results demonstrate, for the first time, that atypical beta adrenoceptors in guinea pig ileum receive a noradrenergic innervation.