Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 83 (2), 102-106 (2000)

Nicotine-Induced Noradrenaline Release From the Isolated Rat Stomach by Activation of L- and N-type Calcium Channels

Muchun Wang, Shoshiro Okada, Yoshinori Murakami and Kunihiko Yokotani*


Department of Pharmacology, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505, Japan
*ﾊTo whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: We examined the effect of nicotine on the release of endogenous noradrenaline (NA) from the isolated, vascularly perfused rat stomach. The stomach was perfused via the coeliac artery with Krebs-Ringer solution containing 10ﾊmM pargyline at a constant flow rate of 4ﾊml per minute. Nicotine was once applied in the perfusion medium for 2ﾊmin. Nicotine (10^-6-10^-4ﾊM) evoked NA release in a concentration-dependent manner. The nicotine (3ﾊｫﾊ10^-5ﾊM)-evoked NA release was abolished by hexamethonium and tetrodotoxin. Diltiazem and isradipine [blockers of L-type voltage-activated calcium channel (VACC)] and w-conotoxin GVIA (a blocker of N-type VACC) also abolished this nicotine-evoked NA release. Previously we reported that N-type, but not L-type, VACCs are located on the gastric postganglionic sympathetic nerve terminals, since the NA release evoked by electrical stimulation of periarterial nerves around the left gastric artery (postganglionic sympathetic nerves) was abolished by w-conotoxin GVIA, but not by diltiazem (Yokotani et al., Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 78, 75-77, 1998). From these results, it was suggested that nicotine activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors located on the sympathetic ganglia, thereby evoking NA release by activation of L-type VACC located on the gastric sympathetic ganglia and N-type VACC probably located on the sympathetic nerve terminals in the rat stomach.

Keywords: Nicotine, Release of noradrenaline, Rat stomach, L-type voltage-activated calcium channel,
N-type voltage-activated calcium channel