Effects of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide on isolated urethral and urinary bladder smooth muscle from rabbit and...

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide concentration-dependently inhibited the contractant responses of isolated preparations of the female rabbit bladder and urethra induced by electrical field stimulation and exogenous application of acetylcholine (bladder) and noradrenaline (urethra). The inhibition of alpha-adrenoceptor and muscarinic cholinoceptor-mediated activity in the urethra and bladder amounted to 50 to 90 per cent of induced contractions. The nonadrenergic noncholinergic contraction induced by electrical field stimulation in the urethra was reduced slightly, whereas corresponding response in the bladder was more sensitive. The maximum inhibition of both the electrically induced responses and contractions induced by exogenous noradrenaline and acetylcholine was of comparable size in the urethra and the bladder. The effects of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide seemed to be exerted postjunctionally since no significant influence of the peptide was seen on the release of 3H-noradrenaline from adrenergic nerve endings in the urethra. The effects of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in human urethral and bladder preparations were less consistent. The noradrenaline-induced contraction in urethral preparations was inhibited by 29 +/- 9 per cent (no. = 22). The effects on electrically induced contractions in the urethra, and on responses to acetylcholine and electrical field stimulation in the bladder, were small and inconsistent. It is concluded that vasoactive intestinal polypeptide may be of importance for regulation of lower urinary tract smooth muscle activity in the rabbit. It cannot be excluded that the peptide has a modulatory role in neurotransmission in human urethral muscle. However, the present results do not support the view of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide as an inhibitor of contraction in human detrusor.