Galanin (Gal) constricts rat gastric fundus by acting on receptors located in the cell membrane. We compared the role of intracellular Ca 2 release with extracellular Ca 2 in¯ux in Gal-stimulated contraction of isolated gastric smooth muscle strips. We also tested if phospholipase C (PLC) or protein kinase C (PKC) participate in the signal transduction cascade.Concentration±contraction curves were constructed non-cumulatively in the presence of atropine, hexamethonium, guanethidine and tetrodotoxin. The half-maximum effective concentration (EC50) of Gal was 21Á62 nM and Hill's coef®cient was 1Á02. The effects of Gal were decreased by diltiazem, Ca 2 -de®ciency in the buffer, Ca 2 removal from the extracellular medium or quercetin. Depletion of intracellular Ca 2 -stores, ryanodine and 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid 8-(diethylamino)-octyl ester diminished the contractile effect of Gal concentration-dependently. Tri¯uoroperazine and phosphatidylinositol-speci®c phospholipase C (PI-PLC) inhibitors, neomycin and U-73122, attenuated the gastric fundus response to Gal, whereas phosphatidylcholine-speci®c phospholipase C (PC-PLC) and phospholipase D (PLD) blockers, D609 and propranolol, were ineffective. The inhibitors of PKC or myosin light chain kinase, calphostin C, chelerythrine, ML-7 and ML-9, lowered the myogenic activity of Gal.Our data con®rmed that the stimulation of Gal receptors in gastric fundus is coupled to Ca 2 in¯ux through voltage-dependent channels and intracellular Ca 2 release from ryanodine-and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate-sensitive stores. Enzymes such as PI-PLC and PKC, but not PC-PLC or PLD, play a role in the signal transduction cascade. Calmodulin and myosin light chain kinase lie downstream of the increases in intracellular Ca 2 concentration evoked by Gal.Porcine galanin (Gal) is a 29 amino acid peptide isolated for the ®rst time by Tatemoto et al (1983). It is implicated in the modulation of cognition, memory, feeding, nociception, sexual behaviour and spinal re¯exes (Ro Èkaeus 1987;Bartfai 1995). Its action is exerted by the stimulation of three high af®nity G protein-coupled membrane receptors and the subsequent activation of several intracellular signalling pathways (