Nicotine receptors do not modulate the 3H-noradrenaline release from the isolated rat heart evoked by sympathetic nerve stimulation.

Isolated rat hearts with the right sympathetic nerves attached were perfused at a constant flow rate of 7 ml/min with Tyrode's solution. (-)-3H-Noradrenaline (final concentration 10–13.9 nM) was infused for 10 min to label the noradrenaline stores. After wash-out the sympathetic nerves were stimulated electrically (3 Hz, 180 impulses, 1 ms, 20–30 mA) three times (S1–S3) at intervals of 15 min. 3H-Noradrenaline and its metabolites were determined by liquid scintillation counting according to Graefe et al. (1973). Both, nicotine 50 μM and p-aminophenethyltrimethylammonium (PAPETA) 30 μM, enhanced the 3H-noradrenaline overflow in the absence of nerve stimulation. The effect of PAPETA was bipha…