Eight beagle dogs were anaesthetized with 1-methadone and nitrous oxide under controlled ventilation. By means of previously implanted strain gauges circular and longitudinal contractions of ileum colon were recorded for 60 min before and 60 min following injection of pancuronium bromide (pcb) 0.08 mg/kg KG I.V. The areas under the contraction curves before and following injection were summed to yield two respective motility indices (dimension N. sec). These indices for circular and longitudinal musculature in the ileum were 14,876 +/- 7,977 and 6,825 +/- 3,172 before and 12,162 +/- 7,772 and 12,565 +/- 5,538 after pcb. For circular and longitudinal colonic musculature they were 10,244 +/- 2,643 and 15,542 +/- 2,460 before and 10,175 +/- 7,030 and 19,825 +/- 10,617 after PCB. The differences were not statistically significant. It is concluded, that pancuronium bromide had no demonstrable effect on spontaneous jejunal and colonic motility.