Human epididymal and prostatic tracts of vas deferens: different contraction response to noradrenaline stimulation in isolated organ bath assay

In the present study epididymal and prostatic portions of human vas deferens were separately isolated and stimulated with exogenous noradrenaline to study their contractile properties. The results displayed that the epididymal tract produced a phasic-tonic response, while the prostatic strip produced only a phasic response suggesting a different functional role of each vas deferens segment. Moreover, it has been verified if alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists doxazosin, alphuzosin and terazosin could differently block the noradrenaline response in each segment. Doxazosin, the most potent antagonist, displayed similar potency in epididymal and prostatic tract (pA(2)=8.51 and 8.42, respectively). Analogously, alphuzosin, although less potent than doxazosin, displayed in the same tracts a superimposed potency (pA(2)=7.25 and 7.30, respectively). In contrast with doxazosin and alphuzosin, terazosin displayed higher potency in blocking the contractile response in prostatic tract (pA(2)=7.67) than in epididymal segment (pA(2)=6.43). These results showed that alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonists doxazosin and alphuzosin, although with a different potency, did not discriminate between epididymal and prostatic segment while terazosin showed high potency in prostatic tract and only a moderate activity in epididymal section. Moreover, the biological model employed in our experiments could be a valid screening method to test the potential interferences of drugs indicated for bladder outlet obstruction with the peristaltic activity or the global tone of the human vas deferens.