Alcohol differentially affects noradrenergic and purinergic responses in the bisected rat vas deferens

This study investigates the effect of acute in vivo or in vitro ethanol administration on the adrenergic and purinergic responses in the epididymal and prostatic portion of rat vas deferens. Acute in vivo ethanol treatment (3.0 g/kg, i.p.) selectively impaired the response to noradrenaline in the prostatic portion of rat vas deferens, leaving unaffected the epididymal portion. In addition, the response evoked by the maximal concentration of alpha, beta-methylene-ATP was significantly depressed by acute in vivo ethanol treatment in both the epididymal and prostatic segments. Ethanol 50 mM in vitro was devoid of any action on the response to exogenous noradrenaline in both tissues. Ethanol in vitro left unaltered the response to alpha,beta-methylene-ATP in the epididymal portion, while potentiated the contractile response in the prostatic one. These results provide, for the first time, evidence that ethanol in vitro and in vivo differentially affects the noradrenergic and purinergic responses in the bisected vas deferens, suggesting that this substance may alter the male reproductive tract function.