Abstract
Acetylcholine contents of the rat vasa deferentia were measured after surgical denervation, daily reserpine treatment or 6-hydroxydopamine pretreatment, all of which are known to cause a decrease in norepinephrine contents. Denervation and reserpine treatment are known to cause nonspecific supersensitivity to agonists. Denervation caused a decrease in acetylcholine content but reserpine and 6-hydroxydopamine failed. It is suggested that surgical denervation causes adrenergic and cholinergic denervation and that acetylcholine content per se is not causally related to the appearance of nonspecific supersensitivity.
