STUDIES ON THE INHIBITORY ACTION OF SOMATOSTATIN IN THE ELECTRICALLY STIMULATED RAT VAS-DEFERENS

Somatostatin (SS) inhibits in a dose-dependent manner electrically evoked contractions in the rat vas deferens. This action was not modified by yohimbine, naloxone or a mixture of antagonists containing atropine, phentolamine, methysergide, burimamide, propranolol and indomethacin, but was markedly potentiated by reducing the Ca2+ concentration of the medium from 2.4 to 1.25 mM and greatly inhibited when increasing the Ca2+ concentration of the medium from 2.5 to 5.0 mM. Clonidine (CLO), but not β-endorphin (ENDO) was affected similarly to SS by changing the Ca2+ concentration of the medium. The contractile effect of norepinephrine in unstimulated rat vas deferens was not altered by SS. These results were taken as an indication that SS produces its inhibitory action in the rat vas deferens by interacting with specific SS receptors presumably located in the cell membranes of adrenergic nerve terminals. The interaction between SS and receptors may provoke a decreased diffusion of Ca2+ ions into the nerve terminals and/or a decreased mobilisation of Ca2+ ions from intraneuronal stores thus leading to a reduction in electrically evoked release of norepinephrine. © 1979.