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 adm inistration on the adrenergic and purinergic responses in the epididymal an d 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 pr ostatic portion of rat vas deferens, leaving unaffected the epididymal port ion. In addition, the response evoked by the maximal concentration of alpha ,beta -methylene-ATP was significantly depressed by acute in vivo ethanol t reatment in both the epididymal and prostatic segments. Ethanol 50 mM in vi tro was devoid of any action on the response to exogenous noradrenaline in both tissues. Ethanol in vitro left unaltered the response to alpha,beta -m ethylene-ATP in the epididymal portion, while potentiated the contractile r esponse in the prostatic one. These results provide, for the first time, ev idence that ethanol in vitro and in vivo differentially affects the noradre nergic and purinergic responses in the bisected vas deferens. suggesting th at this substance may alter the male reproductive tract function. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.