Abstract
Contractile responses to substance P, physalaemin and eledoisin, three members of the tachykinin family, were compared and characterized in rabbit iris sphincter smooth muscle. Eledoisin and physalaemin were approximately 5 times more potent than substance P, and the maximum responses to substance P and physalaemin were about 85 percent of those to eledoisin and carbachol. The contractile responses to the three tachykinins were not affected by tetrodotoxin (3×10-6 M) and atropine (10-6 M). The contractions induced by substance P and physalaemin were well sustained even after they were thoroughly washed out, whereas the eledoisin-induced contraction was rapidly ceased by removing the agonist from the bathing medium. The sustained contraction evoked by substance P or physalaemin was strongly dependent on extracellular calcium ions. Phenoxybenzamine (2×10-5 M, 10 min) selectively attenuated the response to eledoisin, but not substance P or physalaemin, and concomitant incubation with excess eledoisin (10-7 M) significantly prevented the inhibitory effect of phenoxybenzamine. The difference between responses to eledoisin and to the other peptides, substance P and physalaemin, may suggest the existence of two different receptor subtypes for tachykinins in rabbit iris sphincter smooth muscle.
