Isolated Vas Deferens Preparation

Producer: PIDATA

The isolated vas deferens can be used without electrical stimulation, adding drugs cumulatively into the tissue bath or washing out between application of appropriate concentrations. The latter, however, does not remove any antagonist present. Antagonists are applied via the bulk of the physiological saline and both agonists and antagonists can be removed from the bath. Antagonists may be easy, difficult or impossible to reverse, and may equilibrate with the tissue at different rates. Alternatively, electrical stimulation using trains of pulses at 5 Hz can be applied through hook electrodes to the whole vas deferens via the hypogastric nerve. This type of stimulation is pre-ganglionic and yields responses which are mainly noradrenergically mediated. Electrical stimulation of the epididymal portion of the vas deferens through transmural electrodes with similar trains yields responses which are noradrenergically mediated but originate from post-ganglionic sympathetic stimulation. Stimulation of the prostatic portion of the vas deferens through transmural electrodes with individual shocks delivered al 0.03 Hz yields responses with are wholly mediated by the non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) transmitter (probably ATP). Judicious use of these possibilities enables a great variety of experiments and investigations to be performed. Note however that the simulation keeps a record of the passage of ‘laboratory time’ and if excessively long experiments are attempted tissue sensitivity and performance may deteriorate sharply.

Details:

Year of production: 1995
Medium: 3.5" disk
System requirements: Windows only (all versions)
Price: £299.00 (multiuser, department licence for unlimited copies)