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Department of Pharmacology, INRA, Toulouse, France.

1. In order to determine the intracellular mechanisms by which galanin induces contraction of isolated smooth muscle cells from pig ileum, we examined the effects of external Ca2+, relaxing agents, pertussis toxin and forskolin on the galanin-induced contraction and compared these effects to those observed on the cholecystokinin derivative CCK8-induced contraction. 2. Galanin induced a concentration-dependent cell contraction. The maximal contraction (24.5 +/- 2.1% of the length of resting cells) was observed at 1 nM of galanin. When cells were incubated in the simultaneous presence of concentrations of galanin (10 fM) and CCK8 (1 pM) which were ineffective alone, or galanin (10 fM) and acetylcholine (100 pM), a synergistic action was observed corresponding to a submaximal contraction. 3. Incubation of cells in Ca(2+)-free medium caused a significant decrease in galanin- but not in CCK-induced contraction. Nifedipine, a Ca2+ channel blocker, provoked a concentration-dependent inhibition of galanin-induced contraction while it had no effect on the contraction induced by CCK8. 4. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and isoprenaline, known to induce cell relaxation through an increase in intracellular cAMP level, inhibited CCK-induced cell contraction at concentrations ranging from 1 pM to 1 microM but failed to inhibit cell contraction induced by galanin. 5. When cells were pre-incubated for 3 h in the presence of 200 ng/ml of pertussis toxin, the contraction induced by galanin was abolished while the CCK-induced contraction remained unchanged. On the contrary, 10 microM forskolin abolished the contraction induced by 10 nM CCK but had no effect on galanin-induced contraction. 6. These results indicate that galanin induces a concentration-dependent contraction of pig ileum smooth muscle by a direct myogenic effect. This effect of galanin involves the activation of a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein, which results in an influx of Ca2+ into the cell. This intracellular pathway is insensitive to the relaxing effect of cAMP.

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