Stimulation by octopamine of the sodium efflux in barnacle muscle fibres.

The behaviour of the ouabain-insensitive Na efflux in barnacle muscle fibres towards DL-octopamine has been investigated. It is found that these fibres are quite often sensitive to external application of octopamine. A concentration as low as 10(-9) M is effective. The kinetic results indicate that the stimulatory response develops within 5-10 min of exposure of the fibre to octopamine and is transitory in nature. The response to octopamine is greater in size in the presence of 1-isoamyl-3-isobutylxanthine (IAX) than in the presence of 1-propyl-3-methyl-7-(5-hydroxyhexyl)-xanthine (PMX). But neither IAX nor PMX stops the response from decaying. The response to octopamine is highly dependent on the presence of external Ca2+. The provisional conclusion is that the barnacle muscle fibre may be a useful preparation for studying the hormonal function of octopamine.