Release of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide from the rat gastric fundus

Abstract
Auxotonic responses and release of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide‐like immunoreactivity (VIP‐LI) induced by electrical field stimulation (EFS) were studied in longitudinal muscle strips from the gastric fundus of reserpinized rats suspended between parallel platinum electrodes in Krebs solution containing atropine (1 μm), 5‐hydroxytryptamine (3 μm) and bovine serum albumin (50 mg l−1). EFS (supramaximal voltage, 1 ms, 0.25–32.0 Hz, trains of 2 min) induced frequency‐dependent relaxations. EFS at frequencies ≥ 8 Hz also produced significant increases in VIP‐LI release. VIP‐LI release induced by EFS at 16 Hz no longer occurred in the presence of tetrodotoxin (1 μm) or a Ca2+‐free medium. Detection of VIP‐LI upon activation of inhibitory non‐adrenergic, non‐cholinergic neurones indicates that VIP meets the ‘detectable release’ criterion for an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the rat gastric fundus.