Adrenergic and cholinergic nerves mediate fluid secretion from tracheal glands of ferrets

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Abstract
To determine if adrenergic and cholinergic nerves mediate secretion of fluids from tracheal submucosal glands and, if so, via which receptors, the secretory responses of tracheal segments to electrical and pharmacologic stimulation in vitro were studied in the presence and absence of a specific nerve blocker and autonomic antagonists were studied. Stimulation caused small elevations or hillocks, the size of which was estimated by measuring their diameters. Electrical stimulation, acetylcholine and phenylephrine each caused secretion but terbutaline did not. Tetrodotoxin prevented the secretory response to electrical stimulation but did not prevent the responses to acetylcholine or phenylephrine. Neither atropine nor phentolamine alone prevented the response to electrical stimulation but both drugs together did and propranolol did not inhibit the adrenergic component of the response to electrical stimulation. Atropine blocked the response to acetylcholine and phentolamine blocked the response to phenylephrine. Adrenergic and cholinergic nerves mediate secretion from the tracheal glands of ferrets via .alpha.-adrenergic and muscarinic receptors, respectively.