Effect of ranitidine on ileal myenteric plexus preparation and on acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase

Ranitidine at concentrations from 1 microM to 0.1 mM brought about a dose-dependent potentiation of the twitch responses elicited by electrical stimulation of the ileal myenteric preparation. At higher concentrations (0.3-3 mM) ranitidine also caused irregular slow contractions of the unstimulated ileal preparation which were potentiated by eserine and blocked by atropine and tetrodotoxin. In order to identify the mechanism of these apparently cholinomimetic actions, the effects of ranitidine on AChE and BuChE were studied. Ranitidine showed an instantaneous and promptly reversible inhibitory action at concentrations between 0.5 and 30 microM. Double reciprocal plots were prepared and equilibrium dissociation constants calculated. It appears that ranitidine exerts an inhibition of the "mixed" type on both AChE and BuChE, but the dissociation constants for BuChE were markedly higher than those for AChE. Since AChE inhibition occurs in the same concentration range potentiating the twitch responses on the ileal myenteric preparation, it may explain the cholinomimetic effect of ranitidine.